Department for Transport

Public Transport

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 3.2.3 of the Levelling Up White Paper on ensuring local public transport connectivity across the country is brought significantly closer to the standards of London, if he will (a) quantify the term significantly and (b) clarify how that will impact bus services.

Trudy Harrison: The Government is clear that ensuring better bus services are delivered across England will be one of our major acts of levelling-up. In March 2020, The Government published England’s long-term National Bus Strategy. The Strategy will make buses more frequent, more reliable, easier to understand and use, better co-ordinated and cheaper. At the Budget we announced £1.2 billion of new dedicated funding for bus transformation deals to deliver London-style services, fares and infrastructure improvements in England, as part of a £3 billion investment over this Parliament to level up bus services in England.

Railways: York

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the cancellation of HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail on the delivery of the Government's Levelling Up agenda with respect to York.

Andrew Stephenson: The Government has not cancelled HS2 or Northern Powerhouse Rail, so there is no such assessment to be made.

Public Transport: Disability

Matt Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to support disabled passengers on public transport.

Wendy Morton: The Department is committed to ensuring disabled passengers have the same access to transport as everyone else. We are working to deliver accessibility improvements across all modes of transport, as set out in the 2018 Inclusive Transport Strategy, 2021 National Disability Strategy and the 2021 Williams-Shapps Rail Review.Recent initiatives include:Launching the rail Passenger Assist AppRevising guidance documents on tactile paving and inclusive mobilityProviding funding for a range of initiatives such as Changing Places Toilets and improving accessibility at lifeline portsPartnering with disability charity Scope to develop a Disabled Passenger Charter for buses, coaches, rail, taxis and private hire vehicles.We also ran the #World of Difference element of the ‘Its Everyone’s Journey’ public awareness campaign to support disabled passengers using public transport, including those with non-visible conditions. We also continue to engage with key stakeholders through the Inclusive Transport Stakeholder Group, the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee and Disability Ambassadors for Transport.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many electric car charging points (a) are in operation and (b) will be in operation by the 1 January 2025.

Trudy Harrison: As of 1 January, there were 28,375 public electric vehicle charging points available in the UK. On average, over 600 new chargers are being added to the UK’s road network each month, and today, a driver is never more than 25 miles away from a rapid chargepoint anywhere along England’s motorways and A roads. In 2021 the total number of public chargepoints increased by 37%, whilst rapid chargepoint numbers increased by 33%. In addition, the government has also supported the installation of over 250,000 home and workplace chargepoints.

Motorways: Safety

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when (a) the locations of additional Emergency Refuge Areas (ERAs) to be installed on All Lane Running Smart Motorways within the second Road Investment Strategy will be published and (b) work on the additional 150 ERAs will be completed.

Trudy Harrison: On 12 January 2022, the Government’s response to the Transport Committee committed £390 million over the duration of the second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) to roll out an Emergency Area (EA) retrofit programme. This will see over 150 additional EAs being added to All Lane Running smart motorways by 2025. National Highways is now developing detailed plans for the design and construction of these additional EAs. Further details on the location, design and schedule for construction of these EAs will be provided in due course.

Highway Code: Publicity

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has spent on advertising the recent changes to the Highway Code as of 1 February 2022.

Trudy Harrison: The changes to The Highway Code were approved by Parliament 29th January. Following approval, communications to support the changes coming into effect have included media engagement with supporting stakeholder comment, social media content and an extranet to readily share assets with stakeholders and amplify our messages.A THINK! campaign, with an investment of over £500,000 will go live in February to raise awareness of the changes. The campaign will include radio and social media advertising and will run across England, Wales and Scotland. Additional media investment has also been provided by Transport for London and Transport Scotland to amplify the campaign in those areas.Further communications are planned later in the year, to align with seasonal increases in active travel, to help embed the changes and encourage understanding and uptake of the new guidance. Funding for this activity is subject to the Cabinet Office Professional Assurance Approval process for next financial year.

Driving Licences: Medical Examinations

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2021 to Question 87701, what steps he is taking to improve Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency processing times for applications to renew a driving licence following a medical condition.

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that drivers whose licence renewal applications are with DVLA are aware of the provisions of section 88 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

Trudy Harrison: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working to improve the process for drivers with a medical condition. Drivers with diabetes, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, a visual impairment, a sleep condition or a heart condition can renew their licence online.The DVLA has also recently introduced a simplified licence renewal process for drivers with epilepsy and multiple sclerosis and is piloting this for some mental health conditions. This new process has significantly reduced the need for the DVLA to seek further information from medical professionals and enabled more licensing decisions to be made based on the information provided by the driver. The DVLA is looking at adding more medical conditions to this new process.Detailed guidance for drivers and applicants about driving under section 88 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 is published on the GOV.UK website here.The DVLA advises applicants about this provision when they renew a driving licence online or contact the DVLA by telephone. Information on driving while the DVLA is processing an application is also included on driving licence renewal application forms and reminders and letters sent to applicants, where appropriate.

Felixstowe Port: Storage

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2022 to Question 113799, what percentage of the storage capacity at the port of Felixstowe is currently in use.

Robert Courts: Whilst the Department is aware of operational status at Felixstowe, the information is provided on a discretionary, commercially confidential basis. I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave on 2 February to Question UIN 113799 , that the port is in a position to appropriately manage current container volumes.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much the Exchequer has paid to lenders as a result of defaults in the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan scheme; and how much of that figure is a result of fraud.

Paul Scully: The latest information is available at https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/covid-19-emergency-loan-schemes-repayment-data/”.

Carbon Emissions: York

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the average rate of carbon emissions in York (a) in total and (b) per capita in the last 12 months that data are available.

Greg Hands: This Data is available here https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-local-authority-and-regional-carbon-dioxide-emissions-national-statistics-2005-to-2019 Between 2010 and 2019 the total CO2 emissions produced by City of York has decreased from 1,140.7 kt CO2 to 807.6 kt CO2, a reduction of 29%, and emissions per capita have fallen 34% from 5.8 tonnes CO2 in 2010 to 3.8 tonnes in 2019.

Housing: Carbon Emissions

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department will take to ensure that a transition to net zero remains affordable for people on lower incomes.

Greg Hands: The Government has outlined its plans to transition to net zero. Its plans include growing the economy, benefiting everyone by securing home-grown energy supply, establishing new industries and creating jobs in former industrial heartlands.

Biofuels: Sustainable Development

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Climate Change Committee’s recommendation that the vast majority of the biomass burnt in UK power stations should be UK grown; and whether any of the wood pellets burnt in UK power stations in 2021 were from trees grown in the UK.

Greg Hands: The Government will consider the use of domestically grown biomass feedstocks as part of the Biomass Strategy.

Drax Power Stations: Timber

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish the names of the forests from which Drax sources its wood pellets.

Greg Hands: The Government does not hold this information. Information on country and region of sourcing of generators is publicly available at https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/biomass-sustainability-dataset-2019-20.

Carbon Capture and Storage

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the (a) amount of CO2 that needs to be captured by Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage and (b) volume of wood pellets required for the UK to reach net zero by 2050.

Greg Hands: Analysis for the Net Zero Strategy’s illustrative 2050 scenarios conducted using the UK TIMES model includes 52 to 58 Mt of CO2 per year of engineered removals delivered by Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage in 2050. This analysis also includes the annual consumption of 70 to 180 TWh of pellets made from wood, crops and agricultural waste by 2050. The range comes from the three illustrative scenarios detailed in the government’s Net Zero Strategy report, which also contains more information about the model.

Drax Power Station

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his estimate is for the carbon payback time for the Drax power station in North Yorkshire.

Greg Hands: The Government only supports biomass that complies with strict sustainability criteria. In a sustainably managed forest, there will be stands of trees each of different ages, which will be harvested in gradual sequence, and replaced, as they reach maturity. There is evidence to suggest that the overall age profile of the forest therefore remains constant, and carbon sequestration can be maintained decade after decade.

Postal Services: Standards

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether officials in his Department have had discussions with representatives of Royal Mail on delays in postal services over Christmas 2021.

Paul Scully: The Department has regular discussions with Royal Mail on a range of issues. Ofcom, the independent regulator, monitors Royal Mail’s performance and has powers to investigate and take enforcement action if Royal Mail fails to achieve its service delivery targets. Royal Mail is required by Ofcom to publish quality of service reports on a quarterly basis and its next report, covering the period from October to December, is expected to be published later this month.

Beer: Measurement

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the potential effect on GDP of enabling a Crown Stamp symbol to appear on pint glasses.

Paul Scully: The Government wants to provide businesses with the option to use the crown stamp symbol so that it can appear on pint glasses once again. The use of the crown stamp symbol on pint glasses will be voluntary. Businesses will have freedom to choose whether or not to apply the symbol to pint glasses, alongside the legally required UKCA and M markings. No additional conformity assessment processes will be required and we do not anticipate any impact on GDP.

Bounce Back Loan Scheme: Fraud

Abena Oppong-Asare: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the oral contribution of the Paymaster General of 1 February 2022, Official Report, column 160, that the estimate of fraud in the bounce back loan scheme had been revised down from £4.9 billion to £3.3 billion, if he will publish the methodology used to produce that revised figure.

Paul Scully: The Department’s 2020-2021 Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) estimates a loss of £4.9 billion relating to the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) because of fraud. This is based upon the sampling exercise work undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 2020, details of which are set out in the ARA. The fraud and error estimate for the scheme, it was concluded, ranges from £3.6 billion to £6.3 billion, with the central estimate value being £4.9 billion (11.15%) of loan facilities. More recent information from PwC suggests a reduction in the central BBLS fraud estimate to 7.5%. This estimate requires further verification as our work with lenders and government agencies to identify fraudulent loans continues.

Parental Leave and Parental Pay

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2021 to Question 146798 on Paternity Leave and the Answer of 21 May 2021 to Question 829 on Parental Pay, how many people received Statutory Shared Parental Pay in (a) Q1, (b) Q2 and (c) Q3 of 2021-22.

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Answer of 9 February 2021 to Question 146798 on Paternity Leave and the Answer of 21 May 2021 to Question 829 on Parental Pay, how many people received Statutory Shared Parental Pay in 2020-21, by the number of months in the year that they made a claim.

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much his Department has spent on promoting the Shared Parental Leave scheme in each year since 2014-15.

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many hours were spent by officials in his Department on the ongoing evaluation of the Shared Parental Leave scheme in each year since 2018-19.

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the number of new mothers on statutory paid maternity leave who transferred some of that paid leave to the child's father under the Shared Parental Leave scheme in each year since 2015-16.

Paul Scully: Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Pay was introduced in December 2014 for the parents of children due or adopted from 5 April 2015. The scheme enables eligible working parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay in the first year, where the mother does not intend to use her full maternity entitlements.Information provided by employers to HMRC in respect of claims for Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) by Quarter3 indicates that 4,500 individuals were in receipt of ShPP in Quarter 1 of 2021-22, and 5,300 individuals were in receipt of ShPP in Quarter 2 of 2021-22. Data for Quarter 3 of 2021-22 is not yet available.HMRC does not hold information which calculates the total duration of ShPP received by individual claimants. However, the Table 1 sets out the number of individuals in receipt of ShPP in 2020-21 by the number of months4 in the year that they made a claim:Number of months claimed4 in 2020-21Number of individuals in receipt of ShPP13,40022,70032,10041,40057006500730081009100Please note:The data collected uses HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) system and was extracted in November 2021 covering up to September 2021. RTI is subject to revision or updates, and so there may be small fluctuations in figures reported, and these figures should not be considered “final”.Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.The number of individuals in receipt of ShPP per quarter are based on the total number of individuals in that quarter irrespective of when the payment first started. For example, some individuals in the Quarter 2 figures also appeared in Quarter 1 figures. Quarterly figures should not be added together to make a yearly count of individuals in receipt of ShPP due to double counting claimants from quarter to quarter.“Number of months claimed” counts each month the same individual was in receipt of ShPP, in a given tax year (2020-21). This should not be interpreted as the total duration of pay received. Where individuals are in receipt of pay which spans two financial years HMRC data shows only the period within each year. Where individuals have received pay spanning multiple months, however briefly, they will be recorded as receiving ShPP in each month.This data represents individuals in receipt of Shared Parental Pay only, so those who take unpaid Shared Parental Leave are not included. The Government conducted a £1.5 million communications campaign in 2018 to promote the Shared Parental Leave Scheme. In addition to this campaign, we have also undertaken cost-free communications activities to promote the scheme such as blogs by parents who have taken the leave and articles regarding the introduction of the online tool which enables parents to map out leave with their partnerThe number of hours officials spend on individual projects is not held centrally.In order for fathers/partners to take Shared Parental Leave, the child’s mother must curtail their entitlement to 52 weeks of Maternity Leave and 39 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance to potentially share any remaining weeks of leave and pay with the child’s father/their partner or take SPL themselves (they may wish to do this as SPL is more flexible than Maternity Leave).Information provided by employers to HMRC in respect of claims for Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) show the number of individuals (including mothers and fathers/partners) in receipt of ShPP. This data provides a broad indication of the level of SPL take-up for parental leave entitlements but does not include anyone taking unpaid Shared Parental Leave. Table 2 sets out the number of individuals in receipt of ShPP in each year since 2015-16.Year (Apr to Mar unless otherwise stated)No. of individuals6 in receipt of Statutory Shared Parental Pay2015-166,2002016-178,6002017-189,2002018-1910,7002019-2012,6002020-2111,2002021-22 (Apr 21 to Sep 21)7,600NotesThe data collected uses HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) system and was extracted in November 2021 covering up to September 2021. RTI is subject to revision or updates, and so there may be small fluctuations in figures reported, and these figures should not be considered “final”. This may especially be the case for 2021/22 data.Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.These figures are based on the total number of individuals in receipt of ShPP in a given year, irrespective of when the payment first started. Therefore, some individuals will be counted in 2 years (for example, those who take SPL in March and continue in April etc will be counted in both years).For the 2015-16 tax year, those receiving Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP) for children born before 6 April 2015 cannot be distinguished from those claiming Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) within RTI data.Data for individuals in receipt of Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) includes both mothers and fathers in receipt of ShPP, however fathers, on average, make up over three-quarters of all ShPP recipients.Data for individuals in receipt of Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) includes both mothers and fathers in receipt of ShPP, however fathers, on average, make up over three-quarters of all ShPP recipients.This data represents individuals in receipt of statutory parental pay only, so those who take unpaid parental leave are not included.

Yoga: Coronavirus

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what guidance he has provided to local authorities on the granting of covid-19-related financial support to yoga studios.

Paul Scully: The Government has delivered to Local Authorities over £700 million for grants to support businesses most impacted by Omicron, part of a £1 billion wider support package announced by the Chancellor on 21 December. The Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant supports businesses that offer in-person services, where the main service and activity takes place in a fixed rate-paying premises, in the hospitality, leisure and accommodation sectors. For the purposes of this scheme, the definition of a leisure business excludes gyms and sports businesses where physical exercise or training is conducted on an individual basis or group basis. The funding supports sectors where social mixing is a primary motivation for consumers.   Alongside the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant, more than £100 million worth of Additional Restrictions Grant discretionary funding has also been made available to Local Authorities in England to support other businesses severely impacted by Omicron. Gyms, yoga studios and other sports businesses may be eligible for this scheme. Local Authorities have discretion to allocate this funding to businesses most in need.The Guidance for both OHLG and ARG schemes can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-restrictions-support-grants-lrsg-and-additional-restrictions-grant-arg-guidance-for-local-authorities On top of wider economic support, the Government announced a £100 million support fund for Local Authority leisure centres to ensure these important facilities remain available once public health restrictions are lifted. Sport England has provided £270 million directly to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through this pandemic, via a range of funds. This includes £8,991,129 on multisport projects which included yoga, and of which £108,573 was specifically to fund yoga.

Parental Leave and Parental Pay: Baby Care Units

Luke Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to provide parents of babies receiving neonatal care with additional paid parental leave from April 2023.

Paul Scully: The Government is committed to providing parents with an entitlement to take extended, paid leave for neonatal care, to support those new mothers and fathers who need it during the most stressful days of their lives. The Government will bring forward legislation when parliamentary time allows.

Cancer and  Dementia: Research

Anthony Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his Department's financial investment in (a) cancer research and (b) dementia research has been per year since 2015.

George Freeman: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a partner organisation of BEIS, funds research relating to cancer and dementia across all UKRI councils. Spend data is presented instead of commitment data to avoid misrepresenting grants that are subject to multi-year funding that are allocated in a single year but spent across several years. This results in uneven distribution of the funding allocations data with apparent spikes and certain years followed by no funding allocation being recorded in subsequent years.  Cancer researchYear2015/162016/172017/182018/192019/202020/21UKRI spend £m1.9120.7113.1116.0121.33.7 Dementia researchYear2015/162016/172017/182018/192019/202020/21UKRI spend £m65.544.039.853.247.47.3  Notes on cancer research figuresSpend figures include data provided by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Medical Research Council (MRC).Spend data for Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Innovate UK (IUK), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Research England (RE) and Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) are not provided.MRC and BBSRC spend data for 2015/16 is unavailable.MRC and BBSRC spend data for 2020/21 is not currently available.MRC and BBSRC spend is provided by the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI). Spend is based on the percentage of each research project that is relevant to cancer research.ESRC total spend for each relevant grant is included in the data above.The many funding mechanisms involved reflect a range of investments into projects, institutions and infrastructures. Currently, investment figures are calculated differently across UKRI councils. As such, the data provided across the UKRI Councils is collected from a range of measurement criteria. Notes on dementia research figuresSpend figures include data provided by BBSRC, ESRC and MRC.Spend data for AHRC, EPSRC, IUK, NERC, RE and STFC are not provided.BBSRC spend data for 2019/20 is based on an estimate of spend for that period.MRC and BBSRC spend data for 2020/21 is not currently available.

Attorney General

National Scrutiny Panel on Disability Hate Crime

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2022 to Question 110472 on National Scrutiny Panel on Disability Hate Crime, if she will respond to the the request to publish further details of the membership of the National Scrutiny Panel on Disability Hate Crime.

Alex Chalk: National Scrutiny Panels (NSPs) are one-off, non-recurring meetings designed to focus on a specific topic relating to Hate Crime. The format and membership of each NSP is adapted to the context of the specific topic under consideration. The overarching approach is to seek representation from: community perspectives; relevant Government departments; the police and academic or other specialist interests. For the National Scrutiny Panel on Disability Hate Crime, the following were invited to participate: Dimensions; Inclusion London; the Disability Network; Disability Rights UK; Members of CPS Area Local Involvement and Scrutiny Panels; the National Autistic Society; MIND; Home Office; Ministry of Justice; HMCTS; National Police Chiefs Council and two specialists with a focus on Disability Hate Crime.

Attorney General: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Attorney General, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published July 2021, what recent steps her Department has taken on (a) encouraging and supporting workplace disability networks, (b) achieving and maintaining the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation, (c) ensuring responsive and timely support to meet workplace adjustment needs and (d) developing and embedding flexible working.

Alex Chalk: The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) is supported by the Government Legal Department’s (GLD) Human Resource (HR) function and policies though a shared services agreement. GLD’s current D&I Strategy (2019-2022) and yearly D&I Delivery Plan has been the foundation for many supportive disability policies throughout the department. All of GLD’s Diversity Networks, including GLD's Disability and Wellness Network (DAWN), contribute to annual reviews of the strategy and delivery plan and have been active in supporting improvements in workplace adjustments and career development for all staff. An HR D&I lead also participates in DAWN’s regular committee meetings, and HR meets with all of the Diversity Network Champions and Chairs on a six-monthly basis. GLD currently holds the Disability Confident Leader (Level 3) status, accredited in January 2018, and was upheld in January 2021 for three years, with a working group supporting the actions going forward. GLD provides a range of guidance and tools on workplace adjustments accessible by all staff, including advice on how to determine when a workplace adjustment might be appropriate, steps to make a workplace adjustment, a workplace adjustment passport, best practice guidance, and manager awareness sessions. GLD also offer Occupational Health referrals, to offer advice in relation to workplace adjustments. GLD, with support from the Flexible Working Network and Senior Champions, developed a flexible working policy which allows employees to consider flexible working arrangements, including annualised hours, compressed hours, flexi-time, home-working, job-sharing, part-time working, phased retirement, staggered hours and term-time working.

Attorney General: Correspondence

Jessica Morden: To ask the Attorney General,  what the average response time was for her Department to respond to an enquiry from an MP once an enquiry had been received by the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.

Alex Chalk: The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from MPs, either directly or on behalf of their constituents. The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) does not have an MP hotline. Correspondence from MPs is monitored alongside that received from Peers and members of devolved assemblies by the AGO Correspondence Team. The AGO Correspondence Team does not hold information on the average response time to enquiries from MPs, as correspondence performance is monitored by the percentage of correspondence responded to within the target response time set by the Department. For AGO this is 20 working days. Data on the timeliness of responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers for 2019 and 2020 is published on Gov.uk here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers. Data for 2021 will be published by the Cabinet Office in due course.

Department of Health and Social Care

Department of Health and Social Care: Randox Laboratories

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2022 to Question 81967 on Randox Laboratories, which of his Department's officials were present on the call of 9 April 2020 between the former Parliamentary Under Secretary for Innovation and Randox Laboratory, broken down by civil service grade; whether any special adviser attended that call; and whether (a) an official or (b) a special adviser wrote the minute of that call, published by his Department.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Care Homes: Visits

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to section 1.1 of his Department's most recent guidance on care home visiting, if he will publish the exceptional circumstances in which someone may need the additional support of more than one essential care giver; and who is responsible for making that decision.

Gillian Keegan: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Protective Clothing

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2022 to Question 101748 on PPE Medpro: Baroness Mone, how many suppliers of PPE to which contracts were issued through the high priority lane were rated as (a) red, (b) amber or (c) green in his Department's financial assessment.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Protective Clothing

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's annual report and accounts 2020-21, key findings, paragraph 8, page 200, how much of the (a) £0.67 billion of personal protective equipment (PPE) which cannot be used, (b) £2.6 billion of PPE which is not suitable for use within the health and social care sector and (c) £0.75 billion of excess stock PPE, was purchased through the high priority lane.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

PPE Group and PPE Medpro

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2022 to Question 101748 on PPE Medpro: Baroness Mone, whether his Department researched (a) the company PPE Medpro incorporated in the Isle of Man and (b) PPE Group, also incorporated in the Isle of Man; and whether his Department made an assessment of who the ultimate business owner is of the UK company.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Mr Steve Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of people who fail to attend their covid-19 booster vaccination appointments.

Maggie Throup: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

NHS: Coronavirus

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with NHS England on updating the NHS Long Term Plan in response to the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the NHS.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Clinical Commissioning Groups: Pay

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the agreed salary range is for Chief Officers of NHS clinical commissioning groups.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Integrated Care Boards

Ed Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when there was last a comprehensive assessment of local continence care service needs; and whether there is a strategy in place to meet those needs in the context of formalising integrated care boards across England.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Biochemistry: Finance

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of how many NHS clinical biochemists could be paid for using the funding from the covid surge deal, announced on 10 January 2022.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Nurses: Finance

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of how many NHS nurses could be paid for using the funding from the covid surge deal, announced on 10 January 2022.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Doctors: Finance

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of how many NHS doctors could be paid for using the funding from the covid surge deal, announced on 10 January 2022.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Health Services: Finance

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of how many people on NHS hospital treatment waiting lists could have their NHS hospital treatment paid for using the funding from the covid surge deal, announced on 10 January 2022.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Health Services: Private Sector

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the covid surge deal with the independent health sector will be financed; and whether covid surge funding is being provided to Wales through Barnett consequentials.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Care Homes: Visits

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the human rights implications of his recently updated care home visiting guidance on the right to private and family life.

Gillian Keegan: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Mental Health Services

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his oral evidence to the Health and Social Care Select Committee on 25 January 2022, what plans his Department has to (a) consult on and (b) publish a refreshed mental health plan as part of a revised Long Term Plan for the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Keegan: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department of Health and Social Care: Randox Laboratories

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February to Question 81967 on Randox Laboratories, when his Department previously released the minutes of the meeting of 9 April 2020.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Care Homes: Inspections

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many inspections have been carried out by the Care Quality Commission to ensure care homes adhered to the guidance with respect to visiting for families of residents over the last 12 months; and how many care homes have been found not to have been following that guidance.

Gillian Keegan: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Sarah Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure adverse reactions to covid-19 vaccinations are appropriately (a) reported and (b) monitored.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Breast Cancer: Surgery

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of women who are at a high or very high risk of breast cancer and who are waiting for risk reducing mastectomies as of 31 January 2022.

Maria Caulfield: No estimate has been made of the number of women who are at a high or very high risk of breast cancer and who are waiting for risk reducing mastectomies.The National Health Service is committed to recovering cancer services and to ensuring patients receive the best and most appropriate care.At the beginning of the pandemic, NHS England asked the Federation of Surgical Speciality Associations to produce a guide on which surgery should be prioritised and the timescales for this. The current guidance states that risk reducing mastectomy surgery in gene carriers is a priority three procedure and should be carried out in under three months.

General Practitioners: Registration

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his policy is on NHS patients being asked to deregister from GP practices as a result of being considered to be out-of-area.

Maria Caulfield: General Practices have a practice boundary area which may include an outer boundary area to enable their existing patients who move home within these areas to remain registered with the practice if they wish, unless the practice believes it would not be in patients’ interests to do so or it otherwise has reasonable grounds for removal. A practice may also grant continued registration to a patient who has moved outside of its practice boundary area, provided the patient has not registered with another practice as a permanent patient. Where a practice wishes to remove a patient from its practice list, the practice must provide the reason for removal in writing to the patient.

Department of Health and Social Care: Written Questions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Question 102568, tabled by the hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury on 12 January 2021.

Edward Argar: I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question 102568.

Hospitals: Sutton

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress he has made on the proposed Sutton hospital and its timetable for development; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Argar: A new hospital scheme for Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust forms part of the Government’s commitment to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with all schemes in the programme on the timetable for delivery over the decade. We continue to discuss the development of the plans with Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust. All schemes within the new hospital programme will follow the usual business case process, including being reviewed and agreed with HM Treasury.

Dentistry: Yorkshire and Humberside

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to enable Integrated Care Systems to commission dental training places; and whether he has made an (a) estimate of the level of demand for dental training places in York and Hull and (b) assessment of whether that demand warrants the establishment of a dental school in that area.

Edward Argar: There are no current plans to enable integrated care systems to commission dental training places. No specific estimate has been made we have no plans to establish any new dental schools in England.

Abortion: Coronavirus

Sir Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the temporary at-home abortion policy will end with the expiration of Coronavirus Act 2020 in March 2022.

Sir Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department's response to the consultation on home use of both pills for early medical abortion will be published.

Sir Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason his Department is maintaining the temporary at-home abortion policy in place while other covid-19 restrictions are lifted.

Maggie Throup: We are considering all evidence submitted to the Government’s public consultation on whether to make permanent the temporary measure allowing for home use of both pills for early medical abortion. We will publish our response as soon as possible. The approval was put in place on a temporary basis and is time limited for two years or until the end of the pandemic.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is he taking to help ensure that there are no delays in the delivery of the covid-19 school vaccination programme.

Maggie Throup: School-aged children aged 12 years old and over are receiving COVID-19 vaccination in schools through the School Age Immunisation Service (SAIS), and in wider community settings. On 13 December 2021, NHS England and NHS Improvement wrote to local health systems on offering 12 to 15 year olds a second vaccination. This set out the preparations for a winter break offer by 20 December 2021 in ‘out of school’ settings and the spring term offer from 10 January 2022 in school settings. The letter is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2021/12/C1485-letter-cyp-aged-12-15-second-dose-deployment.pdfAll SAIS providers were asked to ensure sufficient capacity in place to deliver in-school vaccination starting in the spring term. While we expect that most schools will require multiple visits, all schools should have received at least one visit before the end of February 2022. Local National Health Service systems are providing additional support to SAIS providers to increase capacity, either through accessing additional support via the lead employer or by sub-contracting with partners, including Primary Care Networks and community pharmacy, where required. At-risk children under 12 years old are being offered vaccination through other channels.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Mr Steve Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the uptake of covid-19 booster vaccination walk-in appointments.

Maggie Throup: On 18 January 2022 the National Health Service launched the 'Grab a Jab' campaign, with 1,800 walk-in sites available. More than 1,000 of these sites are open every day. The opening times of vaccination sites have been extended to seven days a week and general practitioners and pharmacies have been asked to provide more vaccination appointments.The ‘Get Boosted Now’ communications campaign began on 12 December 2021 to encourage those eligible to receive their COVID-19 booster. Ministers, scientists, clinicians and celebrities have shared messages on the need for booster vaccinations to reach a wide audience. This is supported by a large-scale marketing campaign including TV, radio, press partnerships, social media and digital/social media takeovers.

England Infected Blood Support Scheme: Hepatitis

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what happens to an England Infected Blood Support Scheme application for a (a) hepatis C stage 1, (b) hepatitis C stage 2 or (c) special category mechanism payment that is under consideration in the event of the death of the applicant.

Maria Caulfield: Applications are assessed from the date of receipt. Upon an application being successful, payments are dated from the date of receipt. Both lump sum and regular payments which would have been paid to the deceased beneficiary would be paid either to the partner or spouse or the estate, whichever is applicable.

Dental Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data he reviews to understand the challenges and solutions required to improve access to NHS dental care in areas where access to NHS dentistry is constrained.

Maria Caulfield: NHS Digital collects information on National Health Service dental activity, including clinical treatments, dental workforce and the number of patients seen by an NHS dentist by region in each financial year. These statistics and data held at regional level on the oral health needs of the population is used to assess the adequacy of provision.

Dental Services: Finance

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the funding announced on the NHS England website on 25 January 2022 for securing additional dental appointments for people suffering from oral pain, disease, and infection, what will happen to the regional funding allocation in any areas where there is insufficient capacity at dental practices to deliver the additional NHS appointments needed by the end of March 2022; if he will make it his policy to extend the time period for that funding to be spent; what longer term plans he has to fund more NHS dental appointments; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Caulfield: National Health Service regional commissioning teams have been asked to indicate their ability to use the full budget provided. Regions have been advised to spend their full budget. However, if necessary, NHS England will seek to redistribute any unused funds. The funding has been secured for this financial year and cannot be carried over.NHS England and NHS Improvement have set increasing thresholds for activity in NHS contracts throughout the pandemic, supporting increases in access whilst maintaining compliance with infection prevention and control measures. The current threshold is set at 85%. NHS dental practices have been asked to meet as many prioritised needs as possible, focussing first on urgent care and care for vulnerable groups, including children followed by overdue appointments.

Tobacco

Andrew Lewer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to publish (a) the new Tobacco Control Plan and (b) the updated Tobacco and Related Products Regulations.

Maggie Throup: The new Tobacco Control Plan will be published later this year. The Department’s response to the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 post implementation review is expected to be published shortly, prior to the Tobacco Control Plan.

Wales Office

UK Shared Prosperity Fund: Wales

Stuart Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that Wales receives an equitable share of funding allocated through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund following the UK's departure from the EU.

Simon Hart: The UK Government will, at minimum, match EU funds in Wales through Wales’s share of the £2.6 billion UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). Wales will also continue to benefit from EU funding over the coming years. Additionally, Wales will benefit from other local growth funding - including through the Levelling Up Fund and Community Ownership Fund. Further information on UKSPF allocations will be announced in due course.

Wales Office: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published July 2021, what recent steps his Department has taken to (a) encourage and support workplace disability networks, (b) achieve and maintain the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation, (c) ensure responsive and timely support to meet workplace adjustment needs and (d) develop and embed flexible working.

David T C Davies: The Wales Office is not an employer, and accesses disability support and best practice provided by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The MoJ is a Disability Confident Leader, the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation. The ABLE network is a staff disability network which spans across MoJ, including the Wales Office. We encourage staff participation in network events such as ‘understanding neurodiversity’. We have a clear process for accessing workplace adjustments in a timely manner and provide special leave for assessment, treatment and rehabilitation related to disability or whilst a workplace adjustment is being put in place. All Wales Office staff can apply for informal and formal flexible working arrangements. Our approach ensures disabled staff can progress in their careers and have equal access to disability support wherever they work.

Department for Education

Free School Meals

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will enable children on free school meals to roll over unspent monies on their prepaid cards in the context of the introduction of prepaid cards that enable Healthy Start recipients to roll over unspent monies.

Will Quince: Free school meals (FSM) are intended as a benefit in kind, rather than a cash benefit, and the department’s primary interest is that schools meet their legal duties to provide nutritious free lunches to eligible children.Schools have considerable freedoms in how they deliver FSM, and it is important that children are claiming their free lunch each day and schools and colleges ensure children are not building up significant cash reserves on their accounts or regularly spending their allowances at other times of day without receiving their healthy lunch.The Healthy Start scheme, led by the Department of Health and Social Care, provides vouchers which can be exchanged for fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk, infant formula and free Healthy Start vitamins.

Social Workers

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the number of social workers (a) nationally and (b) in York.

Will Quince: The government works closely with local authorities to recognise and understand their workforce pressures, and to ensure there are enough high-quality child and famil social workers in the system. The government is supporting the recruitment and retention of social workers through:Investment in fast-track programmes like Frontline and Step Up to Social Work.Supporting newly qualified social workers through the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment.Providing leadership training for practice supervisors, leaders and directors.Improving the quality of higher education institution based initial training and continuing professional development.The number of child and family social workers is increasing every year, up over 10% from 28,500 in 2017 to 31,000 in 2020.Local authorities are responsible for determining the appropriate social work practice model and staffing levels to ensure high quality assessment and support for all children who need them. Local authorities are also responsible for the training and development of their children’s social care workforce. Ofsted inspects local authorities to ensure that children’s services meet the needs of the local population.The department collects information about the children’s social work workforce in English local authorities. This does not include social workers in adult social care, or child and family social workers not working for local authorities. The latest statistics cover 30 September 2020, and are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-s-social-work-workforce. The statistics for 2021 will be published on 24 February 2022. On 30 September 2020, there were 31,854 full time equivalent children’s social workers employed by local authorities in England. Of these, 98 were employed by York.The government is committed to improving the social work workforce, including better leadership, training and development, recruitment and retention, and reduced agency use. The department is also seeking to increase the amount of time social workers have with families, all of which, including pay, are factors being looked into as part of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care that Josh MacAlister is leading on.

Adoption Support Fund

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending access to the Adoption Support Fund to allow foster children who have experienced trauma to apply for funding for therapeutic services.

Will Quince: The Adoption Support Fund was developed in recognition that children who have left the care system, through adoption or special guardianship orders, were not getting the therapeutic support necessary for them to attach to their new permanent parents and carers.The law is very clear that children in foster care must have a care plan that sets out their needs and how their local authority will meet them. The care plan should include information about the child’s emotional and behavioural development, and how any emotional or behavioural difficulties are to be managed. It must also include what support should be available to the foster carer to meet the needs of the child.From 2019 to 2021, the government have invested over £1 million to pilot high quality mental health assessments to maximise learning and inform changes needed to the mental health assessments of looked after children going forward.The pilots generated considerable learning and we will be working closely with NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure learning from the pilots is embedded in service delivery for looked after children moving forward, building on the commitment in the NHS Long-Term plan. The department aims to support pilot sites to embed and sustain the learning and good practice from the pilot within their local areas.

Social Workers: Registration

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to encourage temporarily registered social workers to become fully registered.

Will Quince: The register of social workers is managed by the regulator, Social Work England. Social Work England is urging social workers with temporary registration status to apply to re-join the permanent register as soon as possible if they wish to continue to practise once the temporary register closes.

Social Workers: Labour Turnover

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) retention rate of social workers and (b) reasons for social workers leaving the profession.

Will Quince: The latest estimate of local authority employed children’s social worker turnover is 13.5% for the year ending 30 September 2020, down from 15.1% in 2019. This is a measure of all social workers leaving their local authority employer, including social workers leaving the profession and those moving to another social work role. This does not measure numbers of social workers changing roles within their current employer. The department does not produce statistics on the retention rate of social workers.Data on the reasons for social workers leaving or considering leaving the profession are collected in the department’s longitudinal study of local authority child and family social workers. In the latest wave of the study, Wave 3, respondents who are considering leaving or have left are asked to report all reasons and the main reason. The report is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/longitudinal-study-of-local-authority-social-workers.

Social Workers

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent comparative assessment he has made of the number of (a) social workers who have left the profession, (b) newly employed social workers and (b) social work students in training in each of the last five years

Will Quince: The department does not collect or produce statistics on the number of social workers who have left the profession, or the number of newly employed social workers.Social Work England publishes statistics on social work registrations in their performance reports. The latest Social Work England performance report for Q3 2021-22 shows that between January and December 2021, 6,937 social workers joined the Social Work Register, and 4,730 social workers left the Social Work Register. These numbers cover both adult and child and family social work. Social Work England does not produce a breakdown for Child and Family Social Work only. Social Work England’s latest performance report is available here: https://www.socialworkengland.org.uk/media/4181/20220121-item-6-q3-21-22-performance-report-updated.pdfThe department does not produce statistics on the numbers of social work students. Skills for Care produces a social work education report detailing the number of enrolments onto Social Work courses. The latest report is available here: https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/adult-social-care-workforce-data-old/Workforce-intelligence/documents/Social-Work-Education-in-England-2021-Final.pdf. The next report is due to be published in March 2022. Over the last five years of available data the numbers of students on approved higher education social work courses at higher education institutes are outlined in the below table. These numbers exclude apprentices, trainees on fast-track social work programmes, and students on higher education courses at further education colleges.Social work apprenticeships started in the academic year 2018/19. Statistics are published by the department (specifically within the 'Subjects and levels – standards and frameworks' data with the Apprenticeships and traineeships publication, available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships/2021-22). The latest data is available below, including enrolling data for the fast-track routes.Available data on numbers of students training for social work – HE courses/fast track programmes/apprenticeshipsAcademic YearHigher Education coursesFrontline – child and family onlyStep Up – child and family onlyThink AheadApprenticeship standard: Social Worker (Integrated Degree)-ST05102021/22----3602020/21----8102019/20-4636861096602018/194,140391-1061602017/184,700336563104-2016/174,440282-96-2015/164,59015545895-2014/154,440----Total 18,170  1,627  1,707  510  1,990   Notes:The HE enrolment numbers are rounded to the nearest 10.The apprenticeship starts for 2021/22 academic year only cover August-October 2021.

Social Services: Children

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on children’s social services of long-term use of agency staff.

Will Quince: The department works closely with local authorities to understand their workforce pressures and where we can help. So far, local authorities have been able to manage absences well, but we continue to plan for possible future pressures. The use of agency staff can help local authorities to deal with short-term recruitment needs, fluctuations in demand or to support improvement to maintain an appropriate level of social care services for children and families. However, while agency rates have remained relatively stable over recent years, they remain high and are a concern across the sector because of the impact on children’s outcomes and unsustainable costs. As of 30 September 2020, there were 5,800 full time equivalent agency children and family social workers employed by local authorities in England, the same as the previous year. The statistics for 2021 will be published on 24 February 2022.The quality of the work environment is the key to recruitment and retention, including effective professional supervision, wider support and caseload levels. Our reforms seek to address a number of these points directly. We are supporting the recruitment and retention of social workers through our investment in the fast track and professional development programmes to improve leadership. We are also seeing some innovative practices from local authorities that are driving down agency rates and stabilising their workforces. We are continuing to work with local authorities on this challenge both nationally and regionally, so we can share best practice across the sector to build a resilient and stable workforce.Our COVID-19 recovery action plan aims to stabilise and strengthen children’s social care as we transition out of the COVID-19 outbreak, so we deliver well for children and young people and provide a strong foundation for longer-term reform, informed by the Care Review.

Education: Hearing Impairment

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to (a) develop early-intervention strategies to ensure that deaf children do not fall behind in education and (b) include the funding of auditory verbal therapy in those strategies.

Will Quince: The department is firmly committed to ensuring that children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with hearing impairments, receive the support they need to achieve in their early years, at school and college.The early years foundation stage statutory framework states that all early years providers must have arrangements in place to support children with SEND. We provide multiple sources of funding to support early years providers to deliver the free entitlements to children with SEND.The Disability Access Fund is worth £615 per eligible child per year. In addition, local authorities must establish a SEN Inclusion Fund to work with providers to address the needs of individual children with SEN. The Early Years National Funding Formula also contains an additional needs element to take account of the number of 3- and 4-year-old children with additional needs in an area.The government recognises that the current SEND system, established through the Children and Families Act 2014, does not consistently deliver for children and young people with SEND, their families or the people and services who support them. The SEND Review is seeking to improve the outcomes and experience of all children and young people with SEND, within a sustainable system. The Review will publish as a green paper for full public consultation in the first three months of this year.

Pupils: Absenteeism

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an online portal to allow headteachers to alert (a) his Department, (b) the Children's Commissioner for England and (c) other relevant authorities about missing or absent pupils where schools have safeguarding concerns.

Mr Robin Walker: Safeguarding of children and young people is the statutory responsibility of local partners, including schools, the local authority, police and health. There are already clear responsibilities and arrangements in place for schools to notify the local authority of pupils who are not attending school or where there are safeguarding concerns. The statutory guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education, sets out this process along with the role of each school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead in coordinating and making referrals to children’s social care and the police as appropriate. These clear, statutory responsibilities, alongside our commitment to introduce a local authority registration system for children not in school, mean that an online portal is not required at this time.

Higher Education: Students

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference the letter of 23 January 2022 from the Minister of State for Higher and Further Education to hon. Members, if he will list the 25 higher education providers noted in the correspondence where less than half of students who began a degree can expect to (a) graduate and (b) find professional employment or further study within 15 months.

Michelle Donelan: The Office for Students (OfS) publishes statistics across different aspects of the student lifecycle to help inform regulatory processes.Proceed, or projected completion and employment from entrant data, is a measure that projects rates of students progressing from entry to first degree programmes through to positive graduate destinations. This has been produced using the methodology described within the research report "Projected completion and employment from entrant data (Proceed)", available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/proceed-updated-methodology-and-results/.The proceed measure brings together projected data on the number of full time first degree students who complete their studies (completion rates) with data about the progression of recent graduates into professional employment or further study (progression rates). The two components that combine to form the proceed measure (projected completion and graduate progression) are each based on established reporting of that data by the Higher Education Statistics Agency.The attached table contains an extract of the 25 providers, where the proceed measure was under 50 per cent, meaning less than half of students graduate and find professional employment or further study. 115888_table (xls, 47.5KB)

Languages: Education

Nick Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the uptake of foreign languages in schools.

Mr Robin Walker: Increasing languages take-up is a key priority for the department. In September 2014, a statutory requirement for all key stage 2 pupils to study either an ancient or a modern foreign language was introduced to the national curriculum. The department has also taken steps to increase the uptake of languages at GCSE. GCSEs in all modern and ancient languages have been part of the English Baccalaureate performance measure for secondary schools, first introduced in 2010.The department also recently completed its review into the subject content for French, German, and Spanish GCSEs – the most popular languages at this level. Although the new GCSE will not be available for first teaching until September 2024, the intention is that more pupils will want to study languages at GCSE level and encourage them to continue with this study to post-16 and beyond. The department published the government response to the consultation alongside the revised subject content in January 2022.The total number of pupils in state-funded schools in England entered for examinations in at least one language GCSE has increased from 231,224 in 2010 to 253,379 in 2019. This amounted to an increase among all key stage 4 pupils from 40% in 2010 to 47% in 2019. With GCSE examinations due to recommence in 2022, the department will return to publishing, as far as possible, our usual range of English Baccalaureate entry and attainment measures.The department also provides funding for several programmes to improve teaching quality and take-up in specific languages. These are:The Modern Foreign Languages Pedagogy Pilot led by the National Centre for Excellence for Language Pedagogy at the University of York,The Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP) led by University College London Institute of Education in partnership with the British Council, andModelled on the MEP, the department also recently announced a £4 million Latin Excellence Programme to increase uptake and attainment in Latin in secondary schools from September 2022 onwards.

Teachers: Training

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what conditions need to be met before further rounds of accreditation for providers of teacher training are opened.

Mr Robin Walker: The department announced in December 2021 that it is running two accreditation rounds. Round one began on 1 December 2021 and ends on 7 February 2022. The second round begins on 19 April 2022 and ends on 27 June 2022. Our priority is to ensure that there are sufficient, high-quality initial teacher training places to meet demand across the country. With this in mind, officials will consider if a further accreditation round(s) is necessary following the outcomes of the two application rounds. Further details will be published if required.

Teachers: Recruitment and Training

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which subjects have (a) met their teacher recruitment targets and (b) received funding for initial teacher training bursaries in each of last five years.

Mr Robin Walker: The attached tables show whether subjects met postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) recruitment targets (Table 1), and/or received postgraduate ITT bursaries (Table 2) for academic years 2017/18 to 2021/22.We publish the ITT census detailing the numbers of new entrants to ITT in England in each academic year annually. This data is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-teacher-training#census-data. We also publish the ITT bursaries on an annual basis and previous bursaries can be accessed in ITT funding publications. This information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-initial-teacher-training-itt.114931_table1 (pdf, 158.3KB)114931_table2 (pdf, 118.3KB)

Schools: Absenteeism

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions officials in his Department have had with representatives of Ofsted on the viability of inspections during a period of acute staff and pupil absence.

Mr Robin Walker: The department engages regularly with Ofsted on a range of matters, including inspection arrangements in the changing context of the COVID-19 outbreak.Ofsted inspection continues to play an important role in providing independent assurance as providers respond to the COVID-19 outbreak. It is right though that these arrangements are kept under review, and adjustments made where appropriate.At the start of this term Ofsted temporarily halted use of part time inspectors who are also front-line leaders. Since 31 January Ofsted has been inviting those who are able to inspect again to do so. Ofsted’s deferral policy has provided reassurance to schools, colleges and early years providers that have been significantly impacted by staff absence in recent weeks. That policy remains in place and Ofsted will continue to remind providers about it for the remainder of this half term.

Higher Education: Parents

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Government's criteria for parents in full time higher education to access childcare grants is the same as the criteria set out by Student Finance England.

Michelle Donelan: Eligibility criteria for the childcare grant (CCG) are set out here: https://www.gov.uk/childcare-grant/eligibility. Student Finance England administers the grant in accordance with the regulations on behalf of the government. CCG pays 85% of the actual cost of registered or approved childcare throughout the academic year, during term time, short vacations and the longest vacation.Students who are potentially eligible for CCG are single parents who are students, student couples with children and student parents with a partner on a low income.CCG is available in respect of an academic year in which the student incurs prescribed childcare charges for:a dependent child who is under the age of 15 immediately before the beginning of the academic year, ora dependent child who has special educational needs within the meaning of section 20 of the Children and Families Act 2014 and is under the age of 17 immediately before the beginning of the academic year.

BTEC Qualifications: Finance

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure adequate long-term funding for BTEC courses.

Alex Burghart: As set out in our plans for reform of level 3 qualifications, published in July 2021, we will continue to fund some BTECs and other applied general qualifications (AGQs) as part of mixed programmes alongside A levels, where they meet new quality standards and support progression to higher education or skilled employment.Students will also be able to study qualifications like BTECs as their full programme of study where there is no A level or T Level, and these qualifications will continue to play an important role for 16 to 19 year olds and adults as they do now.The full range of qualifications that will be approved for long term funding in future will depend on the outcome of the new approvals process. Qualifications will need to demonstrate their necessity and meet new quality standards. These qualifications will include some BTECs and AGQs.These standards are currently in development and will be published later in 2022.

Education: ICT

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many 4G wireless routers his Department has purchased for educational settings that have not been distributed.

Mr Robin Walker: The department has now delivered 101,955 4G wireless routers to schools, colleges, academy trusts and local authorities, to enable disadvantaged children and young people to access remote education and essential social care services during the COVID-19 outbreak. All routers that we have purchased have been delivered.

Higher Education: Parents

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that parents in higher education are eligible for childcare grants through Student Finance England.

Michelle Donelan: The government recognises the value of parents continuing in, or returning to education, and provides support to those enrolled in recognised education courses. Eligible student parents may be able to claim for the Childcare Grant, which offers parents support with up to 85% of their childcare costs depending on their household income.The maximum Childcare Grant for the 2021/22 academic year is:Up to £179.62 a week for one child.Up to £307.95 a week for two or more children.

Schools: Absenteeism

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of absences of (a) staff and (b) pupils in English schools in (i) October 2021, (ii) November 2021, (iii) December 2021 and (iv) January 2022.

Mr Robin Walker: The daily Education Setting survey asks schools and colleges to report data such as on-site attendance and COVID-19 absence.The most recent published data for staff and pupil absences at national level is 20 January 2022 and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

Turing Scheme

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason Capita have been appointed to deliver the remainder of the Turing Scheme programme for the academic year 2021-22 starting in April 2022 rather than delivering that programme from the start of the academic year 2022-23.

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential disruption to student mobilities as a result of Capita taking over the delivery of the Turing Scheme mid-way through the academic year 2021-22 starting in April 2022.

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent update he has received on the preparedness of Capita to accept bids for the Turing Scheme from February 2022.

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the will publish the members of the Buyer’s Research Board responsible for scrutinising the evaluative data provided by Capita on the Turing Scheme.

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress has been made on appointing an independent third-party contractor to evaluate the Turing Scheme and projects.

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much weight will be given to Capita’s recommendation to reduce costs in their Continuous Improvement Plans against their recommendations to improve quality in the Turing Scheme service contract.

Alex Burghart: The first year of the Turing Scheme is currently being delivered by the British Council and Ecorys under contractual arrangements that expire on 31 March 2022. A competitive procurement exercise was necessary to appoint a delivery partner for the remainder of the first year and for the second year of the programme. Capita has been appointed as the supplier to administer the completion of the first year of the Turing Scheme from April 2022 and the second year of the scheme until December 2023.Bids for the Turing Scheme contract were evaluated on the answers to questions relating to quality and social value, compliance with a range of financial and corporate information tests, and cost. Bids were reviewed by a panel with knowledge relevant to the services required. Scores were moderated and weighted in line with the published evaluation model. The outcome of the panel review was taken to the Turing Scheme Procurement Board, and they approved the recommended outcome. Capita received the highest overall score and provided the best plan to continue opportunities for students to study and work abroad.The costs for delivery of the contract have been agreed between Capita and the department. The use of continuous improvement is for the purpose of looking at how services can be improved without undermining Capita’s performance of the contract. It is common practice to consider how service improvements can improve service delivery efficiencies and where there are cost benefits of doing so, value for money will always be evaluated.The department is currently working closely with the British Council, Ecorys and Capita to transfer all existing Turing Scheme projects granted funding and minimise any potential impact to the delivery of the first year of the programme. Until 1 April 2022, the British Council and Ecorys will continue to administer the scheme and will provide ongoing support for activities.Beneficiaries will be contacted directly about next steps regarding ongoing support of their activities and should continue to communicate through the sector-specific helpdesk service if guidance or assistance is required.We are confident that Capita have the capacity and skills to deliver the Turing Scheme. They have more than 35 years’ experience of supporting more than 180 local authorities and 21,000 schools, as well as being one of the largest IT providers to the UK education system. They will combine their capabilities in digital grants management, education, and complex programme management to deliver opportunities for students to study and work abroad.In addition to preparations to transfer delivery of the first year of the Turing Scheme, the department is in continuous contact with Capita to plan for and receive updates on preparations for a successful launch of bids for the second year. I also personally met with Capita on Thursday 27 January, and they have assured me they are well prepared to administer the programme.For the evaluation of the first year of the Turing Scheme, the department appointed IFF Research as its evaluation partner on 18 November 2021. Information regarding the appointment is available on the contracts finder service on GOV.UK at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/e4fc6e5f-13d3-4d01-a815-27a18ebe6a88.In response to the buyer’s research board, the evaluation process and the data which will be required to support it has been approved by the research board and by the data protection team. The individual members of the research board are subject to data protection legislation and as such individual names cannot be released.

Pupils: Isle of Wight

Bob Seely: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the average spend per pupil in schools on the Isle of Wight; how that average spending compares to the national average school spend per pupil; and what assessment his Department has made of the impact of designating the Isle of Wight an education investment area will have on school spend per pupil.

Bob Seely: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much education specific funding, in addition to the national average of school spending per pupil, the Isle of Wight has received since June 2017.

Mr Robin Walker: Funding for schools in the Isle of Wight, through the dedicated schools grant (DSG) and the indicative figures for the schools’ supplementary grant for mainstream schools combined, is forecast to rise by £4 million in the 2022-23 financial year, an increase of 6.0% per pupil. This per pupil funding increase excludes ‘growth’ funding, which is additional funding, provided for schools seeing significant increases in pupil numbers. This takes total funding for the 2022-23 financial year in the Isle of Wight to over £83.2 million.On top of this funding, over £100 million of funding will be made available to support Education Investment Areas, including the Isle of Wight.The table below shows the funding per pupil in the Isle of Wight, compared to the national average:YearFunding per pupil in the Isle of WightNational average funding per pupil2017-18£4,526£4,6192018-19£4,542£4,6302019-20£4,561£4,6502020-21£4,740£4,8452021-22£5,097£5,2282022-23£5,401£5,531 The funding per pupil from the financial years 2017-18 to 2022-23 is through the DSG (actual funding received) but from the 2019-20 financial year onwards, excludes growth funding. To note, in the 2021-22 financial year, the funding per pupil includes the teachers’ pay and pensions grant that was rolled into the national funding formula (NFF) and for the 2022-23 financial year, additional funding from the supplementary grant is included into the funding per pupil figure.Funding per pupil for the Isle of Wight has been lower than the national average because the NFF directs resources to schools with more pupils with additional needs, such as those indicated by measures of deprivation, low prior attainment, or English as an additional language, to help them meet the needs of all their pupils. In addition, schools in more expensive areas, like London, attract higher funding per pupil than other parts of the country to reflect the higher costs they face. This also affects the national average funding per pupil figures in the table above.

Schools: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that schools remain open during the ongoing high level of covid-19 infection rates.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is planning to reintroduce public health measures into schools to help ensure they remain open during the ongoing high levels of covid-19 infection.

Mr Robin Walker: National infection data shows the prevalence of COVID-19 to be on a downward trajectory. Whilst there are some groups where cases are likely to continue rising, including in primary-age children, it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally. There remains significant pressure on the NHS, but hospital admissions have stabilised, and the number of patients in intensive care units remains low and is falling. This means it was right we removed the most stringent restrictions around wearing face coverings from education.Local directors of public health may temporarily reintroduce face coverings where this is proportionate due to specific local public health concerns. A range of protective measures remains in place in all education providers:Testing remains important in reducing the risk of transmission of COVID-19 within schools. Staff should continue to test twice weekly at home. Schools are encouraged to ask all visitors to take a lateral flow test before entering.Unvaccinated adults who have COVID-19 symptoms, or have had a positive test, should isolate for 10 days. Adults and young people aged 5 to 18 years and 6 months with COVID-19 must continue to isolate for up to 10 days if their test remains positive but can end their self-isolation after 5 full days if they test negative on days 5 and 6.All young people aged 12 to 17 years are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccinating children should reduce the risk of spread of COVID-19 within schools. Children aged 5 to 11 years in a clinical risk group or who are a household contact of someone who is immunosuppressed are also able to be vaccinated.We have provided carbon dioxide monitors backed by £25 million in government funding. Over 99% of eligible education providers have now received these, with over 350,000 delivered. The government is now making available at least 9,000 funded air cleaning units for poorly ventilated teaching spaces.Schools should regularly review their risk assessments and continue to comply with health and safety law, implementing proportionate control measures in line with our guidance, such as ensuring good hygiene and maintaining appropriate cleaning regimes.All education and childcare providers should already have contingency plans in place in cases of outbreaks within schools, as set out in the contingency framework, to help break the chains of transmission. This framework is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings.99.9% of education providers have been able to remain open to support face to face education since the start of the year and we are hugely grateful to all the teachers and staff for the hard work and dedication that has gone into responding to the challenges of COVID-19 to make this possible.

Schools: Absenteeism

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of days missed of school by (a) students and (b) teachers in the first term of the 2021-22 academic year.

Mr Robin Walker: The requested data is not yet available.Data relating to the number of school days missed by pupils due to absence in the autumn term of the 2021-22 academic year is currently being collected in the termly school census. It will be published in May 2022 and will be available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-autumn-term.The daily education settings survey asks schools and colleges to report data such as on-site attendance and absence due to COVID-19.The most recent published data for staff and pupil absences at national level is for 20 January 2022 and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.Data relating to teacher sickness absence is collected from state-funded schools in England from the November school workforce census. Each census collects data for absence from the previous academic year. The November 2021 census, covering the 2020-21 academic year, will be published in summer 2022 and will be available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

St Helens Council: Finance

Conor McGinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Government's Levelling Up White Paper, if he will publish details of the additional funding that St Helens Metropolitan Borough will receive as a result of having been identified as an Education Investment Area.

Mr Robin Walker: We are making over £100 million of funding available to support Education Investment Areas over the course of the Spending Review period.Our Schools White Paper will set out further details on the funding available to Education Investment Areas, as well our plans to make a wider programme of support available to a priority subset of these areas.

Ministry of Justice

Prison Officers: Training

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2022 to Question 112569 on Prison Officers: Training, if he will publish the review conducted by an external company of the counter terrorism training package Awareness for Staff on Prevent Extremism and the Counter Terrorism Strategy.

Victoria Atkins: The report into the Awareness for Staff on Prevent Extremism and Counter Terrorism Strategy (ASPECTS) training programme, which is currently underway, includes sensitive information and will not be available for publication.

Legal Aid Scheme: Training

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2022 to Question 113255 on Legal Aid Scheme, what training and/or guidance is provided by the Director of Legal Aid Casework to Legal Aid Agency caseworkers to ensure they are aware of relevant factors to take into account when making a determination.

James Cartlidge: In addition to the Lord Chancellor’s guidance on determining financial eligibility for certificated work, Legal Aid Agency (LAA) caseworkers with responsibility for determining financial eligibility for legal aid are provided with guidance in the form of the LAA’s Means Assessment Guidance.Following the judgment in R(GR) v DLAC [2020] EWHC 3140 (Admin), the Means Assessment Guidance was updated specifically in relation to the Director of Legal Aid Casework’s discretion to value assets other than at sale value under Regulation 31(b) of the Civil Legal Aid (Financial Resources and Payment for Services) Regulations 2013.In particular, section 5.3.8 sets out relevant factors for caseworkers to take into account when exercising discretion under Regulation 31(b) on behalf of the Director.Decisions are considered on a case by case basis using the published guidance referred to above, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/civil-legal-aid-means-testing. In making individual determinations, the Director, and staff acting on her behalf, must act independently of Ministers.

Judges: Retirement

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 20 Jan 2022 to Question 105554, what estimate he has made of the ages of judges who have left office before retirement age in each year since 2018.

James Cartlidge: The average age of judges, both salaried and fee-paid, who left the judiciary before retirement age for any reason is as follows:2018-19: 65.9 for courts judges, 64.2 for tribunals judges2019-20: 65.4 for courts judges, 64.5 for tribunals judges2020-21: 64.7 for courts judges, 64.3 for tribunals judgesThese periods run from 01 April to 31 March.Retirement age is taken to mean the current judicial mandatory retirement age of 70 years. Therefore, these averages are based on those leaving the judiciary on any date before their 70th birthday. Those who left on or after their 70th birthday are not included.This data is taken from the Diversity of the Judiciary annual statistics.

Ministry of Justice: Location

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the potential savings to the public purse his Department's national programme of moving staff out of central London to locations such as (a) Canary Wharf, (b) Croydon and (c) Leeds will deliver each year.

James Cartlidge: The Ministry of Justice will be moving 2000 roles from London to the regions by 2030 through a national talent strategy which relies on roles becoming vacant to then be advertised nationally, allowing MoJ to attract the best talent regardless of their location.We are still in the process of understanding cost implications as we implement this strategy and will be analysing estimated savings based on the variables associated with a nationally dispersed workforce model.We therefore do not have any estimates to share on roles moving from Central London.

Reoffenders: Terrorism

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of offenders who have served custodial sentences and who have subsequently committed offences under the Terrorism Act within eighteen months of being released.

Kit Malthouse: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Offenders: Terrorism

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders convicted of offences under the Terrorism Act or related offences are being monitored by the Probation Service.

Kit Malthouse: As at 28 January 2022, there were 208 persons being monitored in the community convicted of terrorism or terrorism-connected offences.

Equality Act 2010

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many fines have been issued under s.165 of the Equality Act 2010 in each year since its introduction.

James Cartlidge: The Ministry of Justice holds information on the number of fines issued to drivers of designated taxi / private hire vehicles who failed to comply with a duty imposed by section 165 of the Equality Act 2010, in England and Wales, from 2011 until 2020; this can be viewed in the attached table.117040_table (xlsx, 17.5KB)

Restorative Justice

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward a new Restorative Justice Action Plan, to replace the previous Plan that expired in 2018.

Tom Pursglove: Under the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime, all victims must be told about the option of Restorative Justice and how to access it. We will use the Victims’ Bill to enshrine the Code into legislation, sending a clear signal that the justice system must deliver for victims.We provide grant funding to Police and Crime Commissioners for victims’ support services, including Restorative Justice.  In the 2020-21 year, they spent £3.7 million from the funding we provided on restorative justice services. We will further bolster support for victims of crime, by increasing MoJ funding for victim and witness support services to £185 million by 2024-25.The probation service is also working on a new framework for restorative justice, to ensure a more consistent approach, focusing on the people for whom it will make the biggest difference. I am carefully considering the recommendations of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Restorative Justice, which includes publication of a new action plan, and will respond in due course.

Treasury

Taxpayer Protection Taskforce

Abena Oppong-Asare: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on what date the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce became operational.

Lucy Frazer: At Spring Budget 2021, the Government announced a £100 million investment into a Taxpayer Protection Taskforce to significantly extend HMRC’s work to tackle fraud and error in the COVID-19 support schemes that HMRC administered (Self Employment Income Support Scheme, Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Eat Out to Help Out). The taskforce became operational from April 2021 and HMRC committed around 1,200 full time equivalent staff (FTE) to recovering money paid out to incorrect and fraudulent claims.  Before the taskforce was established, HMRC deployed 500 FTE onto post payment compliance work on the COVID schemes, following Royal Assent of the Finance Act which provided investigatory powers on 22 July 2020. The taskforce will allow HMRC to undertake at least 30,000 compliance checks in total across three years, up to 2022-23. They are expected to recover around £800 million-£1 billion over two years in addition to the £536 million recovered during 2020-21.

Hospitality Industry: VAT

Virginia Crosbie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the VAT rate of 12.5 per cent for the hospitality industry until the end of 2022.

Lucy Frazer: The temporary reduced rate of VAT was introduced on 15 July 2020 to support the cash flow and viability of around 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors. As announced at Spring Budget 2021, the Government extended the 5 per cent temporary reduced rate of VAT for the tourism and hospitality sectors until the end of September 2021. On 1 October 2021, a new reduced rate of 12.5 per cent was introduced for these goods and services to help ease affected businesses back to the standard rate. This new rate will end on 31 March 2022. This relief has cost over £8 billion and, whilst all taxes are kept under review, there are no plans to extend the 12.5 per cent reduced rate of VAT. The Government has been clear that this relief is a temporary measure designed to support the sectors that have been severely affected by COVID-19. It is appropriate that as restrictions are lifted and demand for goods and services in these sectors increases, the temporary tax reliefs are first reduced, and then removed, in order to rebuild and strengthen the public finances.

Financial Services: Environment Protection

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Greening Finance Roadmap, published in October 2021, what assessment he has made of the case for implementing the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements before the suggested three to five year timeline; and if he will make a statement.

John Glen: The document ‘Greening Finance: A Roadmap to Sustainable Investing’ sets out an indicative pathway to introducing coordinated Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) across the economy. SDR builds on the UK’s ambitious leadership on green finance and will incorporate the UK’s existing commitment to make reporting aligned with the Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) mandatory, require robust reporting against the UK Green Taxonomy, and aim to incorporate international standards as they are developed. The implementation of legislative and regulatory measures will be subject to parliamentary review and to consultation, ensuring effective scrutiny over the requirements that are introduced. Detailed disclosure requirements will be determined by the relevant regulators and government departments following consultation, and anticipated timings are set out in the Roadmap.

Cost of Living: British National (Overseas)

Amy Callaghan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to review worldwide subsistence rates set by HMRC used by British overseas workers to cover living costs in line with local inflation rates.

Lucy Frazer: The Overseas Scale Rates guidance was last updated in February 2019 and applied from 6 April 2019. The published rates are designed to reflect the average cost of subsistence, including local taxes and gratuities, when staying overseas. It is possible these rates will increase and fall as they do not consider fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Employers can use the rates to pay or reimburse employees’ allowable travel expenses free of tax and National Insurance contributions without checking an employee’s receipts. Employers can also reimburse employee’s actual expenses, but they must check the employee’s receipts. In addition, if an employee spends more than the amount their employer pays, they can claim tax relief on the difference. Therefore, it is not necessary to review the rates at this time.

Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties

Wayne David: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the proposed alcohol duty system announced in the Budget on 2 November 2021 on the trend of increased liver deaths in the UK.

Helen Whately: The Government intends to move to a new system that taxes all products in reference to their alcohol content for the first time. This will help to target problem drinking by taxing higher-strength products a higher rate of duty. The Government is continuing to engage with interested stakeholders, including public health professionals, on these reforms. A consultation ran from 27 October 2021 to 30 January 2022, and the Government is now in the process of analysing responses. A tax information and impact note will be published following the consultation when the policy is final, or near final, in the usual way.

Taxpayer Protection Taskforce

Abena Oppong-Asare: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many times he has met with officials from the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce; and on what dates those meetings have taken place.

Lucy Frazer: The Chancellor regularly meets with officials from teams across HMRC. It has been the practice of successive administrations that the Government does not disclose details of internal meetings.

Regional Planning and Development

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how the Levelling Up White Paper will help determine priorities for the next Comprehensive Spending Review.

Mr Simon Clarke: The Levelling Up White Paper sets out how the Government is levelling up right across the UK, building upon plans set out at the Budget and Spending Review 2021. Spending Review 2021 was published on 27 October 2021 and set departmental budgets up to 2024-25. Priorities for the next Spending Review will be set out in due course.

Customs: UK Trade with EU

Patrick Grady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of additional (a) customs charges and (b) other charges on people sending and receiving packages from the EU as a result of the UK having left the EU.

Lucy Frazer: The extent to which any charges that may apply affect people sending and receiving packages is based on a range of factors, including individual business decisions and the origin and destination of the goods. The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement seeks to reduce the costs for traders of customs processes introduced following the end of the transition period with the EU. It supports efficient customs arrangements and ensures that goods originating in the EU or UK are not subject to tariffs. For goods that do not meet requirements of the rules of origin, tariffs still apply. Imports into the UK are subject to VAT, unless covered by a specific relief, while exports from UK businesses to EU customers are zero-rated for VAT purposes. The EU VAT treatment of UK goods is a matter for the EU.

Private Rented Housing: Taxation

Paul Maynard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the number of properties evading tax liabilities by not registering as private rented accommodation.

Lucy Frazer: The information requested is not available.

Working Tax Credit: Overpayments

Jess Phillips: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to support people who are having difficulty in paying back overpayments of working tax credits in the context of rising living costs.

Mr Simon Clarke: Support is available for tax credits claimants who are experiencing difficulty with their repayments. HMRC can reduce the rate of repayment on a case-by-case basis where claimants are in financial hardship. HMRC also work to identify vulnerable customers and refer them to the Extra Support Team for assistance, with more information available here. Where claimants with overpayments have migrated to Universal Credit, they can similarly contact DWP to discuss a reduction in their rate of repayment and may benefit from the cap on debt deductions which the government reduced to 25 per cent of the standard allowance in April 2021. Work coaches can also signpost other financial support. Furthermore, the Government is providing significant financial support – up to £350 – to the majority of households which will cover more than half of the forecast £700 rise in energy bills for the average household. This support – worth £9.1bn in 2022-23 – is on top of the existing £12 billion support the government is providing for the cost of living this financial year and next. This includes reducing the Universal Credit taper rate, raising the National Living Wage, freezing alcohol and fuel duties and providing targeted help with energy bills.

Regional Planning and Development

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress his Department has made in levelling up all regions of the UK.

Mr Simon Clarke: The Government published its Levelling Up White Paper earlier this month. It sets out our missions as part of a decade long plan to see the potential of every corner of the United Kingdom fulfilled.It builds on the funding allocated at the Spending Review, for example boosting investment in skills training with a total of £3.8 billion in skills by 2024-25, transforming local transport networks with £5.7 billion investment in five-year consolidated transport settlements for eight city regions in England, including Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region, and supporting local infrastructure through the first round of the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, which saw 12 places in the North West receive £232 million in funding.It also provides further detail on the £2.6 billion UK Shared Prosperity Fund, helping people to access new opportunities in places in need.

Pay

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to increase wages and support the lowest-income households.

Mr Simon Clarke: The National Living Wage is increasing by 6.6% to £9.50 an hour for workers aged 23 and over in April 2022, which will benefit more than 2 million workers. This means an increase of over £1,000 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage and keeps us on track to our target to end low pay by 2024-25. We have taken further decisive action to make work pay by cutting the Universal Credit taper rate from 63p to 55p and increasing Universal Credit work allowances by £500 per annum. Taken together, this is a tax cut worth around £1,000 a year for around two million low paid households. The Government recently announced the ‘Way to Work’ campaign to get 500,000 jobseekers into jobs by the end of June. We know work is the best way for people to get on, to improve their lives and support their families because people on benefits are at least £6,000 better off in full time work. Through the Plan for Jobs, the Government is also investing £99m in a new In Work Progression offer from April 2022, which will mean more people in work on Universal Credit will be able to access individualised Work Coach support to help them progress and increase their earnings. The Government is also committed to helping low-income families with the cost of living, including providing £500m for a Household Support Fund to help vulnerable households with costs for essentials such as food, clothing and utilities over the Winter.

Employment: Young People

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress his Department has made on supporting young people into high-skilled jobs.

Mr Simon Clarke: The Treasury continues to work to support young people into high-skilled jobs. Spending Review 2021 delivered the biggest long-term settlement for post-16 education in England since 2015. It delivered on the government’s commitment to invest an additional £500m per annum (£2.5bn total) in adult skills through the National Skills Fund, including continuing to offer free Level 3 courses for adults aged 19 and over in high value subjects, quadrupling the current annual scale of skills bootcamps, and delivering 24,000 traineeships for 16-24-year-olds a year. These actions will help young people access high-quality training suitable to their needs and career goals.  For 16-19 education, Spending Review 2021 doubles the investment we made through Spending Reviews 2019 and 2020, giving young people more money for the high value subjects that matter most for their future careers. In addition, we have invested further in T Levels, which offer young people the opportunity to experience a mix of classroom learning and on-the-job training via an industry placement. Apprenticeships are the government’s premier in-work training offer, providing learners of all ages and at all stages of their careers the opportunity to learn new skills, retrain or upskill. In academic year 2020/21, almost 50% of apprenticeship starts were by under 25s. Spending Review 2021 announced the first increase to apprenticeship funding since 2019, with funding rising to £2.7bn by 2024-25. In addition to this Government’s support for post-16 education and apprenticeships, over 122,000 Kickstart jobs have been started by young people across Great Britain. Kickstart gives young people the chance to build their confidence and skills in the workplace, and to gain experience that will improve their chances of finding long-term, sustainable work. As well as Kickstart, DWP’s Youth Offer provides a guaranteed foundation of support to young people on Universal Credit in the Intensive Work Search group, ensuring they can access the right support, education or training to support their work and career ambitions.

Regional Planning and Development

Matt Vickers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to encourage regional growth across the UK.

Mr Simon Clarke: The Government published its Levelling Up White Paper earlier this month. It sets out our missions as part of a decade long plan to see the potential of every corner of the United Kingdom fulfilled. Encouraging regional growth is a key part of our ambition to level up opportunities right across the UK. The Levelling Up White Paper builds on funding allocated at the Spending Review, including ensuring small and medium sized enterprises across the UK can access the finance they need including through British Business Bank programme such as the Start Up Loans scheme and the Regional Angels Fund, and launching the new £1.4bn Global Britain Investment Fund to ensure that economic opportunities are spread more evenly across the UK by supporting investment in the UK’s life sciences, offshore wind and automotive manufacturing sectors. To improve infrastructure for everyday life, the Spending Review also announced the first 105 places to receive support for regeneration from the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund, alongside unprecedented investment of £5.7bn in five-year consolidated transport settlements for eight city regions.

Financial Services: Competition

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to support the financial services sector’s competitiveness.

Matt Vickers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to support the financial services sector’s competitiveness.

John Glen: In his Mansion House statement last July, the Chancellor set out the Government’s vision for an open, competitive, green, and technologically advanced financial services sector. A sweeping set of reforms to sharpen the UK’s competitive advantage in financial services is already underway. In November, the Government published the second consultation in its Future Regulatory Framework Review. This provides a once in a generation opportunity to ensure that, having left the EU, the UK establishes a coherent, agile, and internationally respected approach to financial services regulation that is right for the UK.

Government: Research

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the status is of the Government Social Research Publication Protocol entitled Publishing research and analysis in government; and what the consequences are in the event of a breach of that protocol.

John Glen: The status of the Government Social Research Publication Protocol entitled ‘Publishing research and analysis in government’ was updated and published in December 2021. This is available on gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-social-research-publication-protocols#full-publication-update-history The protocol applies to government departments in England and Wales that conduct or commission social research; the Scottish Government procedures for publishing social research are compliant with this protocol. Non-departmental public bodies and agencies are not obliged to follow the protocol, although as it is a statement of good practice for the publication of social research and analysis, compliance is encouraged. This update builds on and supersedes the GSR Publication Protocol published in 2015, and is signed off by Jenny Dibden (Head of GSR), Professor Sir Ian Diamond (National Statistician & Head of the Analysis Function) and Sir Patrick Vallance (UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser & Head of the Government Science & Engineering Profession. There is an escalation route for breaching the guidelines in the Protocol, this can be found on page 7 in Principle 2: Where publication is not within 12 weeks, the relevant GSR Head of Profession should be notified and the reason for delay recorded. Reason for delay could be practical or legal, for example during an election period or prior to the budget announcement. The extent to which departments publish within 12 weeks will be monitored by GSR Heads of Profession and regularly reported to the GSR Board. Where systematic issues and/or delays on individual reports are identified, these will be escalated via Department Directors of Analysis and the Analysis Function Board for further scrutiny. GSR will also work with the Office for Statistics Regulation.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Russia: Ukraine

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her Brazilian counterpart on the situation between Ukraine and Russia, following reports that President Bolsonaro will travel to Russia to meet with President Putin.

Vicky Ford: The Foreign Secretary last spoke to Foreign Minister França at the UN General Assembly in New York in September. On 3 February, I met the Ambassador of Brazil to the UK and thanked him for Brazil's support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity at the UN Security Council. British diplomats in Brasilia, including Her Majesty's Ambassador, continue to discuss these issues with the Brazilian Government.

Pakistan: Women's Rights

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations she has made to her Pakistani counterpart on ensuring the protection of the rights and freedoms of women and girls in that country.

James Cleverly: The shocking murder of a Christian priest, and wounding of another, last weekend in Peshawar was a disturbing indication of the violence faced by minorities in Pakistan. The Minister of State for South Asia, and the British High Commissioner in Islamabad have publicly condemned the attack, and British officials in Islamabad have also privately expressed their condolences to Pakistan's Christian community.The UK regularly raises our concerns about freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and women and girls' rights at a senior level with the Government of Pakistan. During his visit to Pakistan on 23 and 24 June 2021, Lord Ahmad met Prime Minister Khan, as well as other senior government ministers, and discussed our concerns. He met interfaith leaders to understand the situation of Pakistani minorities, including the issue of forced conversion and marriage. Most recently, he discussed the need to promote respect for all religions with Governor of Punjab, Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, on 28 November 2021. In July the UK will host an international Ministerial Conference to advance FoRB. Under the Government's Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy, the UK has supported projects in Pakistan to promote tolerance and religious freedom. The FCDO also funds programmes in Pakistan that directly address early and forced marriages and gender-based violence.

British Council: Data Protection

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with the British Council regarding the recent data breach which has reportedly exposed at least 10,000 records held by the British Council.

James Cleverly: The FCDO has received updates from the British Council regarding the incident, which has been reported to the Information Commissioner's Office and the Charity Commission. The incident has been investigated and the Council is working closely with suppliers, to seek assurances that there are no further risks. The FCDO will continue to liaise with the Council on this matter.

Pakistan: Females

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the recommendations in the report by the APPG for Pakistani Minorities inquiry on forced conversions and forced marriages of minority girls and women in Pakistan, published on 25 November 2021.

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of child, early and forced marriage in Pakistan in the context of that country's commitment to goal 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

James Cleverly: The UK Government welcomes the publication of the All Party Parliamentary Group's report. Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for South Asia, spoke at the launch event. The UK strongly condemns the forced marriage and forced conversion of women and girls in Pakistan. We regularly raise concerns about freedom of religion or belief and women and girls' rights at a senior level with the Government of Pakistan. During his visit to Pakistan on 23 and 24 June 2021, Lord Ahmad met Prime Minister Khan, as well as other senior government ministers, and discussed our concerns. He met interfaith leaders to understand the situation of Pakistani minorities, particularly the issue of forced conversion and marriage. Lord Ahmad discussed the need to promote respect for all religions with Governor of Punjab, Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, on 28 November 2021. The FCDO funds programmes in Pakistan that directly address commitments made under Sustainable Development Goal 5, to end harmful practices including child and forced marriages. The UK Government has supported the Government of Pakistan in setting up eight child courts to provide child-sensitive justice to children who come in contact with the law, including victims of child abuse, trafficking and child marriage.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to close the global covid-19 vaccine gap; and what steps she is taking to help ensure access to covid-19 vaccines in Tanzania.

Vicky Ford: The UK is committed to help bring the acute phase of the pandemic to an end and strongly supports the COVAX Facility as a key multilateral mechanism to deliver this. The UK is one of the largest donors to COVAX's Advance Market Commitment (AMC), committing £548 million, and will donate 100 million vaccine doses by mid-2022. This support has helped COVAX deliver over 1 billion vaccines worldwide so far. There are many factors to increasing global COVID-19 vaccination coverage, including not only supply but health system capacity and community demand. UK and COVAX partners are working with countries to help health systems deliver vaccines. This includes engaging with communities and leaders to build trust, provide correct information, and encourage uptake.To date, Tanzania has received around 8 million doses of vaccines from both bilateral donations and from the COVAX facility to which the UK is one of the largest contributors. Around 2 million people have been vaccinated so far. The UK government has supported Tanzania's efforts to increase vaccine uptake by providing technical assistance to the government, including to enable it to address myths and misconceptions about COVID 19 vaccines. We will continue to consider bilateral donations to developing countries as doses become available.

Ecuador: Floods

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help the Ecuadorian Government following the flooding in Quito.

Vicky Ford: We were saddened to learn of the landslide from the slopes of the Pichincha volcano in Quito on Monday evening. We continue to monitor the situation and explore options for assistance; we understand that no British Nationals have been affected by the landslide. As the effects of climate change make extreme weather events increasingly likely around the globe, including in Ecuador, the UK will continue to work closely with the Ecuadorean government to tackle this crisis and mitigate its effects.

Ministry of Defence

Ukraine: Antitank Missiles

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the risk that the Ukraine defence forces might use UK-supplied anti-tank weapons against civilian targets in the Donbas region of that country.

James Heappey: As with all of our military assistance to Ukraine, the risks associated with training the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the use of these weapons was conducted under the Government's Overseas Justice and Security Assistance guidance. All gifts of UK Government-owned licensable military equipment to an Overseas Government are assessed against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria and require an end user undertaking before handing over to recipients.

Nuclear Power: Safety Measures

Bell Ribeiro-Addy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Government has a policy on distributing stable iodine tablets to members of the public living near UK military and civil nuclear facilities; and if he will make a statement.

James Heappey: The distribution of stable iodine tablets to those in proximity to Defence nuclear sites and operational berths is the responsibility of local authorities, based on a number of factors including local geography, population, and other local requirements unique to their area.The distribution of stable iodine tablets to those in proximity to Civil nuclear sites is the responsibility of local authorities, based on several factors including local geography, population, and other local requirements unique to the area.

Cameroon: Military Aid

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the documents publish on 26 January 2022 by Declassified UK, what steps her Department takes to monitor the potential diversion of military units trained by the UK from the Far North region to the Anglophone regions of Cameroon.

James Heappey: UK Defence assistance in Cameroon is not linked to the ongoing Anglophone conflict. All training in the far North of Cameroon is geographically bound to the far North Region only. The training itself emphasises obligations to adhere to strict international human rights standards, and we have also supported the delivery of training on the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law (IHL), including theory and practical lessons on IHL compliance in operations. Records are kept on all BIR trainees to monitor for any potential diversion of military units. We keep our security cooperation under constant review.

Cameroon: Military Aid

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how long the UK has been training Cameroon's Bataillon d'Intervention Rapide forces; and how much the training, capacity building and the building of the Salak training village has cost.

James Heappey: The UK has been providing training to the Battalion d'Intervention Rapide (BIR) since 2018. Since January 2021, we have been training the BIR in Salak in the far North of Cameroon. In the last financial year, all capacity building cost £1.365 million, including the cost of the training village in Salak (£250,000).

Cameroon: Military Aid

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if she will carry out an assessment of the effectiveness of training given to the Cameroon Bataillon d'Intervention Rapide by the UK.

James Heappey: The UK military team providing capacity building for the Battalion d'Intervention Rapide (BIR) regularly assess the effectiveness of the training provided. Their assessment is that the BIR is a credible and effective partner force, having a positive effect on containing the spread of violent extremism in the Lake Chad Basin. A CSSF team visited Cameroon in November 2021 to evaluate the effectiveness of the military assistance provided to the BIR and they concluded that the training provided is effective.

Dstl: Newcastle upon Tyne

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 175 of the Levelling Up White Paper, how much funding the new expanded Defence Science and Technology Laboratory will receive per annum; what his timetable is for the opening of the Science & Technology Experimentation Hub in Newcastle; what steps he is taking to strengthen talent pools; and whether he has plans to include apprenticeships as part of his steps to strengthen talent pools.

Jeremy Quin: The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is playing a key part in driving the modernisation of our defence and is delivering a substantial part of the £6.6 billion investment in Research and Development set out in the Defence Command Paper. Dstl Newcastle is strategically located Science and Technology (S&T) Hub which will be formally opened in Spring 2022. Dstl Newcastle will specialise in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science and will enhance Dstl's capabilities by recruiting and developing local expertise and by accessing skills and expertise from Industry, innovation partners and Academia across the North East. Co-located with the National Innovation Centre for Data, Dstl Newcastle is the first established Dstl S&T Hub. It will provide a new and innovative route by which Dstl (as a whole) will deliverinvestment in AI and Data S&T over the next four years; the majority of which will be delivered by industry and academia. Dstl has a long history of developing specialist expertise through research sponsorship and apprenticeships. Dstl Newcastle will build on existing relationships with the excellent universities in the region to explore suitable sponsorship opportunities. The quality of support and training offered to apprentices is critical to their success, and so Dstl will seek to expand its thriving and effective apprenticeship and graduate schemes into its Newcastle site when it is sufficiently established.

Cameroon: Military Aid

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the training and facilities provided by the Government to Cameroon's Battalion d'Intervention Rapide unit are resourced from her Department's budget or that of another Government department.

James Heappey: Funding for all Capacity Building to the Battalion d'Intervention Rapide in Cameroon is resourced from the cross-government Conflict, Stability and Security Fund for West Africa.

NATO

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff in his Department work on engagement with NATO.

James Heappey: NATO is the cornerstone of UK and Euro-Atlantic defence, The UK will remain the leading European ally within NATO, bolstering the alliance by tackling threats jointly and committing our resources to collective security in the Euro-Atlantic.The Joint Unit Euro-Atlantic Security Policy (EASP) was launched on 18 October 2016.Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Ministry of Defence colleagues are now co-located as a single team leading the Government's work on NATO policy, the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy, and Conventional Arms Control in Europe. We report jointly to the Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary, providing joined up advice and policy options to both Secretaries of State.NATO is a cross-cutting area within the Euro-Atlantic Security Directorate. There are approximately 34 people working on engagement with NATO.

NATO: Armed Forces

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK military personnel are deployed with NATO in each country where that organisation is deployed.

James Heappey: See below the number of UK military personnel that are deployed with NATO in each country. CountryNumber of UK Military Personnel UK150Germany159Turkey40Spain18Italy192Portugal14USA62Poland12Norway35Belgium238Netherlands66Slovakia1Bulgaria1Estonia1Latvia1Lithuania1Greece1France11Romania1

NATO: Armed Forces and Overseas Workers

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK staff or UK military personnel are working at NATO HQ and SHAPE HQ.

James Heappey: There are 45 UK Staff/UK Military personnel working within NATO HQ.There are 191 UK Staff/UK Military personnel working within SHAPE HQ.

Ministry of Defence: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published July 2021, what recent steps his Department has taken to (a) encourage and support workplace disability networks, (b) achieve and maintain the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation, (c) ensure responsive and timely support to meet workplace adjustment needs and (d) develop and embed flexible working.

Leo Docherty: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has an active disability network which is open to staff, both military and civilian, to join and runs several events throughout the year.Under the Government's Disability Confident scheme, MOD has been an accredited 'Disability Confident Leader' at level 3 (the highest level) since September 2017. This was renewed in March 2021. Our aims are that staff with disabilities should feel valued and supported, that managers should have access to consistent advice and expertise, and that reasonable adjustments will be made in a timely manner. As a Disability Confident Employer, we benefit from being able to draw from the widest possible pool of talent, secure, retain, and develop staff with disabilities who are skilled, loyal, and hard-working.All staff are entitled to request reasonable adjustments in their workplace and the Department strives to ensure these are assessed, administered, and delivered as quickly and efficiently as possible.Defence's approach to flexible (including hybrid) working is set out in our Future Workplace Strategy. We have revised our Flexible Working policy to reflect these changes and engaged with the MOD Disability Network to ensure that the needs of employees with disabilities were met. Our policies support employees, including these with disabilities to work flexibly using a range of working patterns/schedules to help them to meet personal and work commitments. Employees with disabilities can also access appropriate equipment and technology to enable them to carry out their role.

Department for Work and Pensions

Personal Independence Payment: Mental Illness

Anne McLaughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of personal independence payment applicants who are refused on initial assessment were applying on the grounds of primarily mental health issues between (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20 and (c) 2020-21.

Chloe Smith: In the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) application process, claimants’ main disabling condition is only recorded for collation by the Department at assessment. It is not recorded at the point of application. The Department does not therefore hold data on the reason for application or the number of applicants to PIP with particular conditions. Only those who have a disability assessment determination decision will have a main disabling condition recorded for them.The Department does collect data on the main disability condition for those who have had a PIP assessment. This can be found in Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. Stat-Xplore holds data up until October 2021.The ‘PIP Clearance’ tables contain details of those awarded and disallowed, broken down by disability. The Disability Category ‘Psychiatric Disorders’ includes mental health issues. The full disability hierarchy can be found here: Disability Category / Disability Sub Group (dwp.gov.uk).Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.

Universal Credit: Rents

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the impact of nondependent rent deductions on universal credit claimants.

David Rutley: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Universal Credit: Feltham

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the discontinuation of the £20 per week uplift to universal credit on the local economy in Feltham.

David Rutley: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Self-employed

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2022 to Question 113112 on Employment, what assessment her Department has made of the geographical distribution of the 815,000 self-employed people who are no longer in paid work when compared to the beginning of the covid-19 outbreak.

Mims Davies: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Centre for Social Justice

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will place a copy of the minutes of the meeting between the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work and The Centre for Social Justice on 13 July 2021 in the Library.

Chloe Smith: No. Formal, structured meetings are usually minuted, however, not all meetings need to be minuted. It is expected that the general guidance that departments give to their staff will help officials make judgements as to what meetings need to be minuted, noting their Civil Service Code obligation to ‘keep accurate official records’. Specific procedures are in place for external meetings involving ministers. These are publicly available and can be found in the Guidance on the management of Private Office Papers.

Disability: Public Consultation

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she will be taking to ensure adequate consultation with disabled people and disabled peoples organisations on its National Disability Strategy following the judgment by the High Court on 25 January 2022.

Chloe Smith: The National Disability Strategy was informed by one of the biggest listening exercises with disabled people in our recent history with over 14,000 people providing information about their everyday experiences. The government is disappointed with last week’s judgment and we are seeking permission to appeal the decision. We are considering the decision carefully before determining what, if any, further steps to take in response.

Social Security: Wales

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department most recently assessed the potential merits of extending to Wales the devolution of powers on social security afforded to Scotland.

Chloe Smith: Social security is a reserved matter in Wales. The UK Government has no plans to re-visit the devolution settlement confirmed in the Wales Act 2017.

Energy: Prices

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department is providing to social security claimants to help them manage increased utility costs.

David Rutley: The government is providing significant financial support to many households to support them with rising energy bills. The Energy Bills Rebate will provide around 28 million households with an upfront discount on their bills worth £200. Energy suppliers will apply the discount to domestic electricity customers from October, with the Government meeting the costs. Households in England, which are in council tax bands A-D, will also receive a £150 rebate on their council tax. The rebate to bills will be made directly by local authorities from April and will not need to be repaid.DWP administers the Cold Weather Payment scheme, which provides £25 extra a week to vulnerable people in receipt of certain income-related benefits, when the average temperature has been recorded, or is forecast to be, 0 degrees Celsius or below over 7 consecutive days at the weather station linked to an eligible person’s postcode.Some customers in receipt of Universal Credit may be entitled to a Winter Fuel Payment if they or their partner reached state pension age on or before 26 September 2021. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy administers the Warm Home Discount Scheme for low income and vulnerable customers. It gives direct assistance with their energy costs. Energy suppliers provide rebates on energy bills currently worth £140 per household each winter. This year (2021/22), the scheme will be worth £354 million.The Energy Price Cap will continue to protect consumers, ensuring they pay a fair price for their energy this winter. Further detail on all three schemes can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-paymenthttps://www.gov.uk/cold-weather-paymenthttps://www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme In addition, we recognise that some people require extra support over the winter, which is why vulnerable households across the country can access the £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund provides £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2022 to Question 103607 on Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations, whether she plans to compare the accuracy of Work Capability Assessments and Personal Independence Payment assessments undertaken by the team of ten directly-employed health assessors recruited by her Department against those carried out by employees of Atos, Capita and Maximus.

Chloe Smith: We have no such plans. DWP has introduced a Clinical Governance Quality Standards Framework which is a systematic approach to continuously improving the quality of all Healthcare Professionals’ (HCPs) work. All HCPs have extensive and rigorous training in undertaking assessments and maintain knowledge through continuing Professional Development Activity.

Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the most recent quarterly statistics on Personal Independence Payments, whether her Department records the number of days between an appeal against a decision on Personal Independence Payment being lodged with HM Courts & Tribunals Service and the date on which that appeal lapsed without needing to be heard at the First Tier Tribunal.

Chloe Smith: We do not routinely record the number of days between an appeal being lodged and the date on which that appeal lapsed, because this can happen at any point during this time, depending on whether new evidence or information becomes available.

Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the most recent quarterly statistics on Personal Independence Payments, what steps her Department has taken to ensure Mandatory Reconsideration stage decision-makers implement the implications for their policies of the 10,990 appeals that lapsed before they were heard at the First Tier Tribunal in 2020-21.

Chloe Smith: The Department’s aim is to make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey. If more information becomes available at Mandatory Reconsideration that changes the decision we change it; likewise if more information becomes available at appeal we change it with the result the appeal lapses. These changed decisions are always implemented and notified promptly because it prevents any further delay in the department awarding claimants their correct entitlement.

Universal Credit

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to section 1.5.4 of the Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper, what steps she is taking to ensure that workers living in areas with lower access to jobs as a result of the local transport infrastructure are not disproportionately affected by universal credit sanctions through her Way to Work policy.

Mims Davies: Way to Work is a concerted drive across the UK to help half a million people currently out of work into jobs in the next five months. While we have more people on company payrolls than before the pandemic, latest figures show there are around 1.2 million vacancies across the economy, including many in key sectors. For new claimants, we are reducing the “permitted period” where a claimant has previously carried out work of a particular nature, or at a particular level of remuneration from a maximum of 3 months to a maximum of 4 weeks. A claimant must normally be willing to travel 90 minutes each way to work. This has not changed with the introduction of Way to Work. Flexible Support Fund is available to help with the cost of attending interviews and can support travel costs for up to 3 months of the claimant starting work.

Access to Work Programme

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to promote awareness of the Access To Work scheme to people eligible to apply.

Chloe Smith: Over the past 18 months, a considerable amount of work has been undertaken to increase the awareness and take up of the Access to Work Scheme.Access to Work have delivered in-depth upskilling sessions to a wide variety of internal colleagues, including Work Coaches, Disability Employment Advisers and Employer Advisers. Externally we have also worked with a range of organisations, employers and customer representative groups, providing awareness of Access to Work. We will continue to do this throughout 2022, focusing activities in the areas of the country with the largest disability employment gap.We frequently promote Access to Work through the Department’s social media channels and have introduced specific Access to Work pages on the JobHelp website (to maximise reach via our Jobhelp TV campaign), and on gov.uk. In addition, we are continuing to promote Access to Work to employers as part of the Disability Confident scheme.

Statutory Sick Pay

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has conducted a review of the adequacy of the rate of Statutory Sick Pay since the introduction of the Social Security (Incapacity for Work) Act 1994, excluding the annual uprating exercise.

Chloe Smith: The consultation ‘Health is Everyone’s Business' proposed a broad package of measures which aimed to reduce ill-health related job loss, including reform of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). As part of this, the Government sought views on the impact of the rate and length of SSP on employee and employer behaviour and decisions. In the response to the consultation, the Government made clear that the pandemic was not the right time to introduce changes to the rate of SSP.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2022 to Question 103606, how many of the (a) 500 Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments and (b) 1,500 Work Capability Assessments have resulted in (i) no PIP being awarded and (ii) a Fit For Work decision respectively.

Chloe Smith: In the Health Transformation Area, we are carefully developing the new service and refining the underpinning data collection methods to accurately capture, analyse, and report the most useful metrics. As this is a still in-development system, the collated outcomes have not been quality assured to a sufficient standard and it would be premature to publish these. However, we are undertaking all benefits assessment in line with current legislation and refining standards and audit controls to assure the quality of the assessment and the decision-making process.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to commission an external evaluation of the Health Transformation Area programme.

Chloe Smith: The Health Transformation Programme is planning a full and thorough evaluation. The evaluation will be DWP led and will include and welcome scrutiny from stakeholders.

Jobcentres: Working Hours

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the costs and potential merits of opening jobcentres on Saturday since 2016; and if she will make a statement.

Mims Davies: Initially 262 large and medium sized Jobcentres began opening on Saturdays from December 2020, with additional Jobcentres opening their doors on Saturdays in 2021. Due to the global pandemic and the application of social distancing in these sites, it is too early to make a robust assessment of the costs and merits of opening Jobcentres on Saturdays.

Access to Work Programme

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department spent on (a) assessments and (b) elements under the Access To Work scheme in each year since 2010-11 inclusive.

Chloe Smith: The yearly expenditure for assessments and elements, for the period 2009/10-2021/21 inclusive, is available in Table 11 and Table 11a of the Access to Work Statistic publications The latest Access to Work official statistics can be found here:Access to Work statistics: April 2007 to March 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Access to Work expenditure on assessments and elements for the period 2010/11 to 2020/21 inclusive, in real terms. AssessmentsElements2010/11£6,274,000£127,562,0002011/12£3,798,000£110,694,0002012/13£3,201,000£111,751,0002013/14£3,428,000£124,528,0002014/15£3,361,000£110,064,0002015/16£3,160,000£108,748,0002016/17£3,702,000£113,749,0002017/18£3,899,000£119,368,0002018/19£3,403,000£136,952,0002019/20£4,451,000£146,186,0002020/21£2,669,000£106,624,000 Access to Work expenditure on assessments and elements for the period 2010/11 to 2020/21 inclusive, in nominal terms. AssessmentsElements2010/11£5,018,000£102,034,0002011/12£3,084,000£89,884,0002012/13£2,652,000£92,597,0002013/14£2,892,000£105,045,0002014/15£2,875,000£94,125,0002015/16£2,725,000£93,758,0002016/17£3,271,000£100,497,0002017/18£3,506,000£107,318,0002018/19£3,131,000£125,989,0002019/20£4,187,000£137,514,0002020/21£2,669,000£106,624,000   Please note the following points on the figures provided:Due to the Access to Work digital transformation programme and the move to a new administrative system, we cannot say how many people had an approval or received a payment for Communication Support for Interviews (CSI) in 2020/21. Access to Work continued to provide Communication Support for Interviews to individuals throughout this period.The expenditure data in these statistics covers payments directly to individuals and empIoyers, as well as to assessment providers and the Mental Health Support Service. The expenditure data in these statistics does not include DWP’s staffing and operational costs relating to Access to Work.Expenditure statistics on Assessments, Communication Support for Interviews and Mental Health Support Service in 2020/21 have been derived directly from SOP. The remaining expenditure statistics in this publication have been derived from DiSC to provide granularity but have been reweighted so that total expenditure is consistent with the Department’s accounts.Real terms expenditure (where actual spending has been adjusted to remove the effects of general price level changes (inflation) over time using price levels from a base year) has been calculated using the GDP deflators published by HM Treasury. Real terms figures provide a more meaningful measurement of change over time.

Access to Work Programme

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) small employers, (b) medium sized employers and (c) large employers were required to pay some of the costs of elements implemented under the Access To Work scheme in (i) 2018-19, (ii) 2019-20 and (iii) 2020-21.

Chloe Smith: The information requested on how many employers were required to pay some of the Access to Work element costs by employer size is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.

Access to Work Programme

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many calls the Access To Work helpline received in (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20 and (c) 2020-21.

Chloe Smith: The Access to Work helpline received the following volume of calls in the periods in question: April 2018 – March 2019 – 98,500April 2019 – March 2020 – 113,000April 2020 – March 2021 – 79,700  Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.

Access to Work Programme

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many recipients of Access To Work scheme funding were subject to the scheme’s overall cap in (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20 and (c) 2020-21.

Chloe Smith: The information requested on how many people were subject to the Access to Work cap is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.

Access to Work Programme

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) applications and (b) successful applications were made to the Access To Work scheme in each year since 2010-11 inclusive.

Chloe Smith: The information requested on number of applications received is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs. However, the Access to Work statistical release includes how many applications results in provision being approved from 2007/08 to 2019/20. Please see Table 1 of the Access to Work statistics. The latest Access to Work statistical release can be found here:Access to Work statistics: April 2007 to March 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Access to Work Programme

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) applications and (b) successful applications there were to the Access To Work Mental Health Support Service scheme in each year since 2010-11 inclusive.

Chloe Smith: The information requested on number of applications received is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs. However, the Access to Work statistical release includes how many applications results in provision being approved broken down by element type from 2007/08 to 2019/20. Please see Table 2 of the Access to Work statistics. The latest Access to Work statistical release can be found here: Access to Work statistics: April 2007 to March 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Unemployment: Young People

Giles Watling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support young people who are out of work or unable to work with the increase in the cost of living.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support young people in Newport West constituency, who are out of work or unable to work, with the increase in the cost of living.

David Rutley: The Government has consistently said that the best way to support people’s living standards is through good work, better skills, and higher wages. That is why we have put in place the DWP Youth Offer to support young people claiming Universal Credit and searching for work, through intensive Work Coach support, Youth Employability coaches for those with additional barriers, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain. Eligible young claimants who need financial support for initial up-front childcare costs, or for costs relating to starting work, can also apply for help from the Flexible Support Fund. Vulnerable households, including young people, are now able to access a £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund provides £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. The Barnett Formula will apply in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.

Energy: Prices

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the impact of rising fuel costs on disabled people in receipt of benefits.

Chloe Smith: The Chancellor announced (on 3rd of February) a £200 rebate for households delivered via their energy bill this autumn, paid back automatically over the next 5 years, spreading the increased costs of global prices over time in a way that is more manageable for households.

Cost of Living

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of benefits for disabled people in the context of increases in the cost of living.

Chloe Smith: PIP is designed to provide help with extra costs arising from disability. Alongside the £9.1 billion Energy Bills Rebate announced on 3 February, the Government is providing £12 billion of support over this financial year and next to ease cost of living pressures, with help targeted at working families, low-income households and the most vulnerable.

Cost of Living: Pensioners

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to help support pensioners with increases in the cost of living.

Guy Opperman: This year we will spend over £129 billion on the State Pension and benefits for pensioners in Great Britain, we have never paid our pensioners more. This includes: £5 billion on Pension Credit. £2 billion on Winter Fuel Payments. £125,000 on Cold Weather Payments to pensioners so far this winter.£144 million on Warm Home Discount to pensioners in receipt of pension credit guarantee credit.

Merchant Shipping: Pensions

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) retired and (b) active seafarers are members of the Merchant Navy Ratings Pension Fund (MNRPF); and what recent assessment she has made of the current valuation of the MNRPF.

Guy Opperman: The Merchant Navy Ratings Pension Fund (MNRPF) is a private sector occupational pension scheme and the Department does not collect data about the membership of such private schemes. The Pensions Regulator, which oversees the funding regime for defined benefit pension schemes, was established by the Pensions Act 2004 on 17 December 2004. It has operational independence and it is not therefore appropriate for Ministers to intervene in its supervision or regulation of individual schemes

Civil Servants: Training

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what diversity training is carried out for civil servants in her Department.

Guy Opperman: DWP has two mandatory e-learning modules: Public Sector Equality Duty and Inclusion in the Civil Service.

Workplace Pensions

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the last 12 months how many employers who have autoenrolment pension responsibilities have failed to enrol all eligible employees.

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the estimated value is of currently outstanding employer contributions to workplace pension schemes.

Guy Opperman: Automatic Enrolment has transformed workplace pension saving, with over 10 million employees enrolled and over 1.9 million employers meeting their duties. The Pensions Regulator is responsible for maximising employer compliance with the automatic enrolment duties, using a risk-based approach to deter, prevent, or address non-compliance. Employers must provide information to The Regulator to show they are meeting their automatic enrolment duties, which involves completing a declaration of compliance. The Regulator publishes regular information about employers who have complied with their duties, here Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance report | The Pensions Regulator. The Regulator also publishes data on how often they have used their regulatory powers, here Enforcement bulletins | The Pensions Regulator which shows that in the 12 months to the end of June 2021 The Regulator issued 60,870 Compliance Notices. Pension scheme trustees and managers have the responsibility for monitoring, collecting and recovering contributions to their schemes in accordance with The Pensions Regulator’s code of practice. Pension schemes are required to report to The Pensions Regulator where there has been a material failure in the payment of contributions by employers.

Kickstart Scheme

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress she has made on the conversion of Kickstart jobs into full-time equivalent roles and apprenticeships.

Mims Davies: We are delighted that over 130,000 Kickstart jobs have been started by young people and around 235,000 roles have been made available for young people to apply to through the scheme. Many of these Kickstart jobs will lead on to further employment, training, or apprenticeships. Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches promote apprenticeship opportunities to claimants in their regular interventions with customers and actively participate in “National Apprenticeship Week” The Department for Work and Pensions will be monitoring and evaluating the Kickstart scheme throughout and after its implementation, and will continue to evaluate the longer-term outcomes for Kickstart participants after they have completed their six-month jobs Jobs made available and starts quoted here include some unfunded Kickstart jobs. Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, which has been developed quickly. The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme.

COP26

Climate Change: Developing Countries

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the President of COP26, what steps he is taking during the UK's COP presidency to address the barriers posed by debt to climate-vulnerable countries’ ability to respond to the climate crisis.

Alok Sharma: The Presidency has prioritised the issue of debt sustainability in the lead up to and since COP26. The UK has championed the IMF’s $650 billion allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to help boost global liquidity and we are supporting the IMF in establishing a Resilience and Sustainability Trust that will provide a long-term financing offer for vulnerable countries facing structural challenges including climate change. To support low-income countries to tackle their debt vulnerabilities, in November 2020 the UK, alongside our G20 and Paris Club partners, agreed a new Common Framework for Debt Treatment beyond the Debt Service Suspension Initiative. This brings together G20 and Paris Club creditors to coordinate debt treatments following a request from any of the 73 eligible low-income countries. Private sector creditors will be expected to implement debt treatments on at least as favourable terms as those agreed by official creditors. The UK-led G7 Private Sector Working Group is also exploring ​​Climate Resilient Debt Instruments (CRDIs), which will crucially suspend any debt service repayments in the event of a natural disaster in climate vulnerable countries.

Home Office

Undocumented Migrants: English Channel

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2022 to Question 107455 on Undocumented Migrants: English Channel, what the maximum capacity is for housing migrants at the barracks at (a) Napier, (b) Penally and (c) Manston.

Tom Pursglove: Napier capacity is kept under review; currently the capacity is set at 308. Penally is closed but could accommodate a Covid safe capacity of 234 when operational. Manston consists of a variety of different accommodation facilities. These will be managed dynamically depending on numbers of arrivals, the makeup of those arrivals and the availability of onward accommodation.

Seasonal Workers: Pilot Schemes

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the letter dated 24 January 2022 from the Independent Anti Slavery Commissioner in response to the Government's evaluation of the Seasonal Workers Pilot, whether she plans to accept and implement the Commissioner's recommendations on (a) introducing mechanisms to listen to workers, (b) introducing an independent grievance mechanism, (c) introducing remediation for workers who have paid recruitment fees and (d) assessing and addressing risks in the scheme before expansion.

Kevin Foster: We have noted the recommendations made in the Independent Anti Slavery Commissioner letter and will respond to her in due course.

Passports: Photographs

Amy Callaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on passport photographs from people with white hair on a white background not being accepted; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing a default pastel background in passport photographs.

Kevin Foster: Her Majesty’s Passport Office does not hold information on passport photographs from people with white hair on a white background not being accepted within the examination process.HM Passport Office provides clear guidance on photo standards, which includes advice for taking digital passport photographs using a ‘plain light-coloured background’ and for paper photograph using a ‘plain cream or light grey background'. This guidance is available on GOV.UKGet a passport photo - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)Get a passport photo: Printed photos - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

British Nationality

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people who were issued a Tier 1 (Investor) visa between June 2008 and April 2015 have (a) applied for and (b) been granted UK citizenship.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to answer Question 111688 tabled by the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon on 25 January 2022.

Kevin Foster: I refer the Honourable member to the answer I gave to her previous question (UIN111688) on 2 February 2022

Immigration: EU Nationals

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the deadline for Surinder Singh applications to the EU Settlement Scheme beyond 29 March 2022.

Kevin Foster: In April 2019 the Government announced transitional arrangements for the family members of qualifying British citizens living in the EEA or Switzerland by 31 December 2020 to enable them to return to the UK under EU law terms. This means they have had nearly three years in which to decide whether to return to the UK on this basis. Family members who apply by 29 March 2022 for an EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) family permit to return to the UK in order to apply to the EUSS will be considered to have reasonable grounds for applying to the EUSS in the UK after the deadline, provided they do so without delay. An application to the EUSS can also be made from outside the UK where the family member has previously returned here with the British citizen and is currently outside the UK within the absence periods permitted under the Scheme. In the interests of fairness, it remains the Government’s approach to align under the family Immigration Rules the family reunion requirements for all British citizens, wherever they and their families reside.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for EU Settlement Scheme family permit are pending a decision.

Kevin Foster: The published statistics for EU Settlement Scheme family permits can be found at Why do people come to the UK? For family reasons - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on EEA Family Permit and EU Settlement Scheme family permit applications and outcomes are published in table Vis_D01 and Vis_D02 of the entry clearance visa detailed datasets. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook.

Refugees: Employment

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2022 to Question 98278, on Refugees: Employment, how her Department makes an assessment of the effectiveness of employment support for refugees when data on their employment outcomes is not available; and what steps her Department plans to take to obtain that data.

Kevin Foster: Home Office officials are currently exploring the potential of using existing administrative data to assess long-term integration outcomes in areas such as employment and education, and will continue to work with other government departments to facilitate this strand of work. We will also independently evaluate the Refugee Transitions Outcomes Fund to better understand what works in supporting refugee integration and self-sufficiency. This is a new £14m cross-Government initiative which aims to increase the self-sufficiency and integration of newly granted refugees, including but not limited to, helping them to move into work and learn English.

Passports: Costs

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department made of the cost of changing the UK passport colour from burgundy to blue.

Kevin Foster: There were no additional costs of changing the colour of the cover of the passport.Passports are routinely redesigned every four to five years to guard against counterfeiting, and the change of colour was introduced as part of the most recent design which launched in March 2020.

Police: Pensions

Robert Largan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to issue guidance to Chief Constables on police pensions following the High Court’s ruling in December 2021 on legacy public sector pension schemes.

Kit Malthouse: The Government welcomes the Court’s decision to dismiss this Judicial Review and remains convinced that the policy set out in the response to the consultation and currently going through Parliament in the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill is the right one.There are therefore no plans to issue guidance to Chief Constables about this case.

Police Patrolling

Dehenna Davison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to increase the number of police foot patrols.

Kit Malthouse: Visible policing in local neighbourhoods is central to the model of policing by consent.We are committed to delivering on the people’s priorities and ensuring that policing has the resources it needs; we have increased the police funding settlement by £1.1billion in 2022/23, and through the Police Uplift Programme, police forces in England and Wales have already recruited over 11,000 additional officers and are on track to deliver 20,000 additional officers by March 2023.In Durham specifically, the police force has recruited 75 additional uplift officers against a combined year 1 and 2 allocation of 135 officers to be recruited by March 2022. The force has also been allocated a further 90 officers for the final year of the programme.Decisions about frontline policing, and how resources are best deployed, are for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners, who are best placed to make decisions with their communities based on their local knowledge and experience.

Independent Office for Police Conduct

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the Independent Office for Police Conduct's independence from police forces to deliver full and unprejudiced investigations and just outcomes.

Kit Malthouse: The Government implemented reforms in February 2020 to streamline the decision-making processes and increase the effectiveness of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).Further to this, the Home Secretary announced last year that she was bringing forward a periodic review of the IOPC. This review will be led by an independent reviewer and will consider the IOPC’s efficiency and effectiveness, including its decision-making processes.The review will start this year. The IOPC is an investigative body and is not itself responsible for the outcomes via the police misconduct system and the criminal justice system.

Gender Based Violence

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what changes the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy has achieved since it was published.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what effect the publication of the Violence against Women and Girls Strategy has had on policing since its publication.

Rachel Maclean: We committed through the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy to introduce a new full-time National Policing Lead for VAWG to take the lead for this area nationally, and the HMICFRS inspection into the police response to VAWG crimes showed that radical reform is needed.We are working closely with DCC Maggie Blyth who has been appointed in the role to improve the policing response to these crimes. The role includes working with police forces and across Government to make sure action is taken in response to the recommendations made in the HMICFRS inspection report.Actions we have taken since publishing our cross-Government Tackling VAWG Strategy in July 2021 includes:appointing transport champions to help make public transport safer for women;awarded £30 million to help make our streets safer through the ‘Safer Streets Fund’ and ‘Safety of Women at Night’ fund;launched a pilot of ‘StreetSafe’ to enable the public to anonymously report areas where they feel unsafe; andprovided additional funding for specialist support services such as the Revenge Porn Helpline.

Refugees: Afghanistan

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when details of the UNHCR referral route process for the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme will be published.

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps people that have escaped from Afghanistan to a third country can take to register with the UNHCR for referral to the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme in cases where the UNHCR does not operate in that country.

Victoria Atkins: The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme commenced on 6th January, providing up to 20,000 women, children and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle in the UK.From Spring 2022, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will refer refugees to the scheme, based on assessments of protection need. The UNHCR has the global mandate to provide international protection and to assist Governments in finding solutions for refugees. UNHCR will refer refugees who are located in various locations, predominantly residing in Asia. Those referred by UNHCR will be assessed for resettlement by UNHCR using their established process, and in line with their resettlement submission categories.Further policy guidance will be published in due course.

Door supervisors and Security Guards: Key Workers

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of recognising security guards and door staff as key workers.

Rachel Maclean: The Security Industry Authority (SIA) has provided clarification on when security guards and door staff are considered to be critical workers.This status does not necessarily apply to entire sectors but is rather conditional based on the role an individual is performing. The SIA’s statement can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-critical-worker-status

Disability: Electronic Government

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published 28 July 2021, what progress her Department has made on improving how digital products and services are procured (a) by the government and (b) across the public sector as a whole.

Rachel Maclean: Home Office officials have been working within the department to identify and trial improvements to how digital products and services are procured in order to recommend future cross government and cross public sector improvements.This has included model contract language, guidance for buyers and improved accessibility involvement in some procurement activity. We expect that throughout the next financial year we’ll begin work with the Crown Commercial Service to identify improvements through it’s frameworks and processes to improve the accessibility of procurement.

Disability: Departmental Coordination

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published 28 July 2021, what progress her Department has made on defining a cross-government accessibility profession.

Rachel Maclean: Home Office Officials are working in collaboration with Officials from the Cabinet Office’s Central Digital, Data and Technology office (CDDO) and other government departments to gather and build the evidence and business case for a digital accessibility career path within the Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) profession. An outline proposal has been submitted to the CDDO’s Profession Management function for consideration and officials are due to meet in the coming weeks to discuss the proposals.In the meantime, work has begun to scope the roles and supporting framework in anticipation of approval. This work will build on the work already done to establish a roles framework for digital accessibility professionals at the Home Office.

Disability: Career Development

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published 28 July 2021, what progress her Department has made on building a pipeline of talent for the accessibility profession by using existing successful and emerging career development programmes to tackle the skills shortage.

Rachel Maclean: In October 2021, the Home Office welcomed it’s first emerging talent role to our well-established accessibility team. The role is a pilot project to understand the support, training and mentoring required for new entrants into the accessibility profession. Since the publication of the National Disability Strategy, the Department for Education has approved a new Digital Accessibility Specialist apprenticeship route (https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/digital-accessibility-specialist-v1-0).Home Office Officials are working with other government departments to identify opportunities for adoption of this apprenticeship as the foundation of a talent pipeline for the future. The department is also involved in a cross-industry group discussing the ongoing development of this apprenticeship.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

UN Committee On the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, on what date the Government last submitted a report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Eddie Hughes: The UK’s combined twenty-first to twenty-third periodic State Report on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination (ICERD) was submitted in 2016. The Government's interim response to recommendations was submitted in 2017.The UK’s combined twenty-fourth to twenty-sixth periodic report to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination will be submitted shortly. The ICERD State Report is an invaluable opportunity for us to assess our work to combat racial disparities and discrimination since our last report in 2016

Listed Buildings: Double Glazing

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of updating planning guidance on allowing windows of listed buildings and buildings in conservation areas to be replaced with double-glazed windows.

Christopher Pincher: There is no legislation or national planning policy which specifically prohibits the installation of double-glazed windows in listed buildings or buildings in conservation areas. Original windows can be central to the special historic or architectural character of a building or area and so each case needs to be considered on its own merits. Historic England, the Government's adviser on heritage, produces a range of guidance on this matter, including Traditional Windows: Their Care, Repair and Upgrading : https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/traditional-windows-care-repair-upgrading/heag039-traditional-windows-revfeb17/ .

Local Government: Northern Ireland

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans he has to designate his Department under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 with respect to its activities in Northern Ireland.

Neil O'Brien: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is committed to working with the Northern Ireland Executive to deliver for all the people of Northern Ireland. Whilst DLUHC is not designated under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 it is committed to carrying out its functions in line with its obligations under the Equality Act 2010, and with due regard to the considerations set out in Section 75.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans his Department has to (a) initiate a consultation on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and (b) publish a timetable for the commencement of that Fund.

Neil O'Brien: The UK Shared Prosperity Fund pre-launch guidance document published on 2nd February 2022 provides further information on the overall focus of the fund, geographies over which the fund will operate and a summary of its investment priorities. This information will enable places to start planning and preparing for the full launch later in spring 2022, where the UK government will publish a full prospectus for places to be fully equipped to write an investment plan.The Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s ambitious Levelling Up agenda and a significant component of its support for places across the UK. It provides £2.6 billion of new funding for local investment by March 2025, with all areas of the UK receiving an allocation from the Fund via a funding formula rather than a competition. This recognises that even the most affluent parts of the UK contain pockets of deprivation and need support.

Land: Regeneration

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to enable communities to take control of underused or vacant spaces of community value as part of levelling up.

Neil O'Brien: Communities are at the heart of levelling up, and in the Levelling Up White Paper we have set out our ambition to make sure communities have the tools to access underused spaces and retain community assets. We will review existing community asset frameworks which allow communities to protect local spaces and the £150 million Community Ownership Fund is helping communities to protect valued local assets at risk of loss.In addition, we have we committed to exploring new powers for local authorities to require landlords to rent out long-term vacant properties to tenants such as community groups and set our intention to strengthen planning tools to encourage councils to take action on long-term empty properties. Our reforms of the Use Classes Order permit more flexible use of buildings and will enable councils to address vacant spaces.

Levelling Up Fund

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to publish (a) detailed guidance and (b) the application forms for the next round of levelling up funds.

Neil O'Brien: The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, including regenerating town centres and high streets, upgrading local transport and investing in cultural and heritage assets. We will open round 2 in Spring 2022 and will share further details in due course.

Poverty

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Government's Levelling Up White Paper, what assessment his Department has made of the need to tackle poverty as part of that strategy.

Neil O'Brien: The United Kingdom is one of the greatest countries in the world, but not everyone shares in its success. Pockets of inequality and deprivation exist, with differentials both within and between regions. The Government’s central task is to level up the UK by spreading opportunity more equally across the country, addressing inequality and deprivation in those areas that have been left behind.The Government’s levelling up missions will spread economic opportunity through investment in R&D, skills, connectivity and business finance. The missions and measures on schools and communities announced in the White Paper, including Education Investment Areas and major investment in youth provision, will target areas of highest need, while the missions and actions to make neighbourhoods safer and ensure decent homes, including in the private rented sector, will address key barriers which contribute to and entrench poverty.

Levelling Up Fund: Shropshire

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will place information in the Library relating to the Government's assessment of Shropshire Council's unsuccessful Levelling Up Fund bid.

Neil O'Brien: The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund invests in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK.All applications to the Fund’s first round were fairly and robustly assessed against the criteria published in the Levelling Up Fund Prospectus and Technical Note. An explanatory note on decision-making was published on the same day as successful round 1 bids were announced.My officials arranged a meeting with Shropshire Council on 6 December 2021, to provide feedback on the strengths of the bids and areas we felt they could be improved. I hope the Council found this meeting helpful to support potential applications into future funding rounds.Further funding opportunities will be available to places such as Shropshire through the second round of the Fund, which will open in Spring 2022.

Thames Freeport

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department made an assessment of the pension liabilities of DP World’s UK subsidiaries during the Freeport bidding process.

Neil O'Brien: The Freeport model includes a broad coalition of local partners, including businesses, local authorities and ports. Trustees and employers have a wide range of legal duties in respect of workplace schemes and are responsible for compliance with legislative funding requirements.As set out in the Bidding Prospectus, each Freeport proposal was subjected to an assessment against defined criteria that related to the ability to deliver the Freeports policy objectives. This assessment process was led by MHCLG (now DLUHC) with involvement from other government departments.The Pension Regulator is the regulator of work-based pension schemes and has a range of powers that it may use to intervene, and to take action, primarily against trustees and employers, where they don’t comply with their duties.

Landlords: Registration

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will publish a timescale for the creation of (a) the national landlords register and (b) a comprehensive definition of the Decent Homes Standard; and when he expects the first enforcement action to be taken against a landlord under that scheme.

Eddie Hughes: We will publish a White Paper in Spring this year that will set out our proposals for reform of the private rented sector.We are committed to drive up standards in private rented accommodation and we will be consulting on introducing a legally binding Decent Homes Standard in the Private Rented Sector and a landlord register.

Unitary Councils: Shropshire

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Levelling Up White Paper, published on 2 February 2022,  whether the Government has plans to establish a single unitary authority to deliver services across the county of Shropshire.

Neil O'Brien: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Business: Coronavirus

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the number of covid-19 Additional Relief Fund schemes which have (a) been established and (b) distributed funds to local businesses.

Neil O'Brien: Local authorities are responsible for setting up their own local schemes and awarding support to businesses. Ministers and officials have regular conversations with counterparts in other Government departments.

Local Government Finance: York

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the impact of the reduction of £31.9 million in local settlement funding for York since 2018 on the Government's delivery of its levelling up agenda.

Neil O'Brien: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Housing Revenue Accounts

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what data his Department holds on the level of the Housing Revenue Account Capital Finance Requirement as of 1 February 2022.

Christopher Pincher: The Department publishes annual data on local authority borrowing including the Housing Revenue Account Capital Financing Requirement (HRA CFR).   The latest data available were published on 2 December 2021 and can be found in the table here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-capital-expenditure-and-receipts-in-england-2020-to-2021-individual-local-authority-data.

Right to Buy Scheme

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his timetable is for evaluating new pilot areas for the Voluntary Right to Buy scheme.

Christopher Pincher: This Government remains committed to the Right to Buy and to spreading the dream of home ownership. The Midlands pilot of the Voluntary Right to Buy scheme concluded in 2021 and an independent evaluation of the pilot was published in February 2021. The Government is considering the evaluation's findings, which will be used to inform future policy. We will announce further details on the Voluntary Right to Buy in due course.

Buildings: Safety

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether there is a mechanism for leaseholders to request a second opinion following a building safety assessment and report on their building.

Christopher Pincher: Fire risk assessments must be proportionate to make sure that unnecessary remediation costs are avoided and leaseholders are protected from unreasonable costs. Where remediation of a building is recommended by an assessor, material supporting this conclusion should be transparent and there should be evidence that alternatives, such as management or mitigation measures, have been clearly considered.Leaseholders can request that a building owner seek a second opinion from another fire risk assessor on the necessity of the works or their costs. The building owner would need to agree to this and leaseholders would be responsible for any additional costs.The Building Safety Bill will make it a requirement in law that a freeholder needs to explore all alternative sources of funding before passing these costs on to leaseholders.

Buildings: Safety

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the new proportionate approach that the Government plans to apply to building safety will result in fire and building safety assessments being revisited for buildings (a) over 18 metres, (b) between 11-18 metres and (c) under 11 metres.

Christopher Pincher: Whole building fire risk assessments are already required in England for residential premises including common parts under the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005 (FSO). Not all buildings require statutory fire risk assessments. For example, single private dwellings with no common parts are not within the scope of the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005. Buildings which already have a suitable and proportionate assessment of their external walls will not need to be reassessed.We have worked with BSI to develop new guidance for fire safety professionals on the undertaking of fire risk appraisals of the external wall construction and cladding of existing residential buildings. This guidance (PAS 9980) will enable more proportionate appraisals when necessary.

Scotland Office

Storms: Scotland

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, with reference to the damage caused by Storm Malik and Corrie, what steps his Department has taken to help ensure that Scotland is better equipped for serious storms in the future.

Mr Alister Jack: At the request of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Energy Emergencies Committee is undertaking a review of the responses to Storm Arwen, and so is Ofgem; these reviews will inform the electricity industry’s response to future storms across Great Britain, including storms like Storms Malik and Corrie. In Scotland, most of the impacts of such storms are devolved matters for the Scottish Government and other devolved bodies. Scottish Government resilience officials are in regular contact with their counterparts in UK Government departments for the exchange of best practice.

Scotland Office: Correspondence

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what his Department's average response time was to an enquiry from a hon. Member to the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.

Mr Alister Jack: The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from MPs, either directly or on behalf of their constituents. The Scotland Office does not have an MP hotline. The Scotland Office does not have an account management team, and the Scotland Office correspondence team does not hold information on the average response time to enquiries from MPs, as correspondence performance is monitored by the percentage of correspondence responded to within the target response time set by the Department. Data on the timeliness of responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers for 2019 and 2020 is published on Gov.uk:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers. The Cabinet Office will publish data for 2021 in due course.

Cabinet Office

10 Downing Street: Refrigerators

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether public funds were used to purchase refrigerators for use on the Downing Street estate in the financial year 2020-21.

Michael Ellis: Downing Street is a working building, including catering facilities and offices for staff; as is common in workplaces including the House of Commons, refrigerators are provided for general staff use. One refrigerator was purchased in the financial year for a Downing Street meeting room, and one to replace an existing refrigerator that had reached the end of its working operation. Notwithstanding, I can confirm that no such public expenditure was accrued in relation to the matters considered in the investigations by the Second Permanent Secretary or connected with associated media reports on this matter.

Cabinet Office: Veterans

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many veterans applied to his Department using the civil service great place to work scheme over the nine month pilot; and how many of those applicants (a) received an interview, (b) were offered a job and (c) went on to accept a role and begin work.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many veterans have been employed by the Civil Service in his Department in each year since 2010.

Leo Docherty: During the early adopter phase, Cabinet Office received 255 applications from veterans through the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative. Of the applications, 48 were offered an interview, with 10 subsequent job offers. These numbers suggest the initiative has been successful in providing greater opportunities to veterans to pursue a career in the Civil Service. The number of veterans employed in the Cabinet Office since 2010 is not held.

House of Lords: Location

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress has been made on the assessment of the potential merits of moving the House of Lords to York.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of jobs that could be created by relocating the House of Lords to York.

Michael Ellis: The Government has previously engaged with the York Central Partnership and, as part of this, explored whether the space would allow for Parliamentary activity, should it be required. The location of Parliament is a matter for Parliament.

Government Departments: Conference Centres

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a national Government conference centre in York.

Michael Ellis: COVID-19 has affected the conference centre market so it has not been possible to establish if a national Government conference centre in York is viable. The situation will continue to be monitored and reviewed at a later date.

Prime Minister: Correspondence

Jessica Morden: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average response time was for the Prime Minister's Office to respond to an enquiry from an MP once an enquiry had been received by the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.

Jessica Morden: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office,  what the average response time was for his Department to respond to an enquiry from an MP once an enquiry had been received by the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.

Michael Ellis: The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from MPs, either directly or on behalf of their constituents. Neither the Cabinet Office nor the Prime Minister’s Office has an MP hotline or MP management account team. Where a Hon. Member writes to the Prime Minister about a matter that is directly the responsibility of another Department, it has been the long-standing practice of successive administrations for that matter to be passed to that Department for a substantive reply, on his behalf. This means that the data on such response times will be included in that Department’s broader figures.Data on the timeliness of responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers is published on GOV.UK.

Civil Servants: Pensions

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to tackle the overpayment of pensions contributions by civil servants.

Michael Ellis: Civil servants are not overpaying pension contributions. Member contribution rates are set via the Cost Control element of the Valuation. The 2016 Valuation was completed on 17 December 2021. It found that there was no ‘breach’ in the Cost Control element, meaning there was no need to adjust benefits or contributions. A consultation, which included suggested member contribution rates for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, ran from 22 November 2021 to 17 January 2022. The consultation response is expected to be published in late February 2022 and will set out member contribution rates for 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

Infected Blood Compensation Framework Study

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to publish the final report from Sir Robert Francis’s study on a compensation framework for people affected by contaminated blood products.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Government plans to respond to the final report from Sir Robert Francis’s study on a compensation framework for people affected by contaminated blood products.

Michael Ellis: I refer the Hon. member to the answer given to PQ97058 on 7 January 2022.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the total cost to the public purse of the All In, All Together newspaper advertising campaign has been since April 2020.

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the (a) ten publishing companies that received the most from the public purse through the All In, All Together advertising campaign and (b) total sum each of those companies received.

Michael Ellis: The Government has developed a strong national campaign to provide information and reassurance to the public about COVID-19. As part of this, we have utilised advertising in over 600 national, regional and local titles across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A list of participating publishers will be placed in the Commons Library. As with any media planning approach, titles are selected on their ability to engage with audiences at a national, regional and local level. Cabinet Office publishes expenditure, including on public information campaigns, on a rolling monthly basis on GOV.UK as part of routine government transparency arrangements.

Screening: Coronavirus

Justin Madders: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the terms of the inquiry into the Government's handling of the covid-19 pandemic are; and whether that inquiry will consider the Government's decisions on the procurement of lateral flow tests produced overseas.

Justin Madders: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the inquiry into the Government's handling of the covid-19 pandemic will consider the provision of travel advice by the Government to the cruise industry.

Michael Ellis: The Prime Minister has appointed the Rt Hon Baroness Heather Hallett DBE to chair the public inquiry into COVID-19. The inquiry will be established on a statutory basis, with formal powers, and will begin its work in Spring 2022. Draft terms of reference will be published in due course, following consultation with Baroness Hallett and ministers from the devolved administrations. As set out in the Prime Minister’s statement on 15 December, Baroness Hallett will then lead a process of public consultation, including with bereaved families and other affected groups, before the terms of reference are finalised.

Covid-19 Inquiry

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the covid-19 public inquiry will formally commence.

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the draft terms of reference for the covid-19 public inquiry will be published.

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the inquiry into the Government's handling of the covid-19 pandemic has not started.

Michael Ellis: The Prime Minister has appointed the Rt Hon Baroness Heather Hallett DBE to chair the public inquiry into COVID-19. The inquiry will be established on a statutory basis, with formal powers, and will begin its work in Spring 2022.Draft terms of reference will be published in due course, following consultation with Baroness Hallett and ministers from the devolved administrations. As set out in the Prime Minister’s statement on 15 December, Baroness Hallett will then lead a process of public consultation, including with bereaved families and other affected groups, before the terms of reference are finalised.

Cabinet Office: Discrimination

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants in his Department submitted (a) complaints and (b) formal grievances on experiencing discrimination as a result of their (i) race, (ii) disability or (iii) gender in each year from 2010-11.

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants in his Department's arm's length bodies submitted (a) complaints and (b) formal grievances on experiencing discrimination as a result of their (i) race, (ii) disability or (iii) gender in each year from 2010-11.

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) complaints and (b) formal grievances made by staff in his Department as a result of (i) race, (ii) disability and (iii) gender discrimination were proven in each year from 2010-11.

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) complaints and (b) formal grievances made by staff in his Department’s arms-length bodies as a result of (i) race, (ii) disability and (iii) gender discrimination were found to be proven in each year from 2010-11.

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) complaints and (b) formal grievances made by staff in his Department as a result of (i) race, (ii) disability and (iii) gender discrimination resulted in disciplinary action in each year from 2010-11.

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) complaints and (b) formal grievances made by staff in his Department’s arms-length bodies as a result of (i) race, (ii) disability and (iii) gender discrimination resulted in disciplinary action in each year from 2010-11.

Michael Ellis: This information is not held centrally by Cabinet Office, and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Cabinet Office: Discrimination

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) complaints and (b) formal grievances made by staff in his Department as a result of (i) race, (ii) disability and (iii) gender discrimination resulted in an employment tribunal in each year from 2010-11.

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) complaints and (b) formal grievances made by staff in his Department’s arms-length bodies as a result of (i) race, (ii) disability and (iii) gender discrimination resulted in an employment tribunal in each year from 2010-11.

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse has been of out of court settlements made as a result of formal grievances in response to allegations of racism in his Department in each year from 2010-11.

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse has been of settlements resulting from employment tribunals in response to formal grievances raised as a result of allegations of racism in his Department in each year from 2010-11.

Michael Ellis: Employment tribunal decisions are published on GOV.UK. Whether an employment tribunal case followed an internal procedure is not held centrally by Cabinet Office and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Government: Communication

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy published 28 July 2021, whether his Department has nominated a senior civil servant to champion accessible communications across government.

Michael Ellis: Claire Pimm, Director of Communications, National Resilience Hub is the nominated senior civil servant to champion accessible communications across government.

Business: Regulation

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if his Department will publish a breakdown of the projected £1 billion of red tape faced by businesses that will be removed via Brexit Freedoms Bill, by (a) business sector and (b) type of red tape cut.

Michael Ellis: The review into the substance of retained EU law and departmental appraisals will be used to establish how best to meet the target. In due course, as we progress with this work, we will consider whether to publish a breakdown of the target.

Prime Minister: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy published July 2021, what recent steps No. 10 Downing Street has taken on (a) encouraging and supporting workplace disability networks, (b) achieving and maintaining the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation, (c) ensuring responsive and timely support to meet workplace adjustment needs and (d) developing and embedding flexible working.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy published July 2021, what recent steps his Department has taken on (a) encouraging and supporting workplace disability networks, (b) achieving and maintaining the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation, (c) ensuring responsive and timely support to meet workplace adjustment needs and (d) developing and embedding flexible working.

Michael Ellis: For management and staffing purposes Downing Street is an integral part of the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office has a disability network, known as the ABLE network. The ABLE network is supported through a number of wider disability specific communities. At the Civil Service level, the ABLE Chair meets with other Disability chairs at the Civil Service Diversity Network where best practice is shared at the CS level. In addition, the Cabinet Office supports ABLE’s membership of Purple Space where all disabled network colleagues have the choice to link up with disability networks across the Purple Space community which has cross sector membership where disability inclusion knowledge is shared across different organisations.Cabinet Office was reaccredited as a Disability Confident Leader in January 2021. This is the highest level of accreditation that can be achieved for the scheme.The Cabinet Office Adjustments team is a dedicated resource within the Department that provides advice to employees and managers. The team aims to respond to all requests for assistance within three working days. For employees requiring workplace adjustments, the team provides end-to-end support to managers to implement physical adjustments. Managers are also supported by a Casework Service provided by MoJ (the Cabinet Office third party supplier) on the implementation of non-physical adjustments.The Cabinet Office embraces flexible working and this is often used as workplace adjustment to enable colleagues to work to their full potential.

EU Law

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his planned timetable is for bringing forward legislative proposals with the aim of ensuring that it is  easier to amend or remove retained EU law.

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to publish a report on the review of all EU retained laws being undertaken to determine whether those laws are beneficial to the UK.

Michael Ellis: The Queen’s speech will set out in further detail the Government’s legislative programme in the normal way. This legislation on retained EU law will be informed by the Cabinet Office's ongoing reviews into the substance and status of retained EU law. Legislation will be accompanied by the normal documents that will explain the benefits of making it easier to amend or remove retained EU Law.

UK Relations with EU: AUKUS

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to The Benefits of Brexit: How the UK is taking advantage of leaving the EU published in January 2022, what assessment he has made of the way in which the Withdrawal Agreement enabled the UK to establish a strategic partnership with Australia and the USA through AUKAS.

Michael Ellis: Following our withdrawal from the European Union, the UK is able to pursue an independent foreign, trade and security policy. As set out in ‘The Benefits of Brexit’, this gives us greater flexibility to pursue the UK’s international objectives: to sit at the heart of a network of like-minded countries, defend human rights and uphold global norms. This new and agile approach is demonstrated through AUKUS. AUKUS is a concrete articulation of the UK’s ambition, made in the ‘Integrated Review’, to deepen defence, security and foreign policy ties with like-minded partners in the Indo-Pacific and more widely across the globe. The agreement reflects the unique level of trust and cooperation between our three countries.

Candidates: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy published 28 July 2021, what steps his Department has taken to date towards considering how it can best support those standing for public office and those who hold public office.

Michael Ellis: It is the Government’s ambition to see more disabled people in public office. Officials in the Cabinet Office Disability Unit continue to work with colleagues at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DHLUC) on this issue. DHLUC is developing a new scheme to support those seeking to become candidates and to support those who have been elected to public office. That work is a part of the 2022/23 local government improvement work which will be launched from April this year. Officials are also speaking to the National Association of Local Councils and the Local Government Association about enhancing support and guidance for disabled councillors.

Conflict, Stability and Security Fund

Sarah Champion: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much has been spent on projects via the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund for projects in (a) Kazakhstan, (b) Belarus, (c) Ukraine and (d) Bosnia and Herzegovina in each of the last five years.

Michael Ellis: The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) spend in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan and Ukraine over the last five years is provided in the table below. These figures include discretionary Official Development Assistance and non-Official Development Assessments spend in these countries through the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and the Good Governance Fund portfolios. These totals do not include some cross regional and thematic spend which cannot be disaggregated by country. Country2016/172017/182018/192019/202020/21Belarus£0£67,755£320,000£367,592£2,727,553Bosnia and Herzegovina£8,542,836£4,304,129£10,101,622£10,709,074£6,239,830Kazakhstan£219,150£362,739£463,952£541,038£411,162Ukraine£22,879,996£25,473,635£22,168,488£30,236,049£33,386,420 Projects have included, election observation, domestic violence response and provision of medical supplies during COVID-19 in Belarus, improving the ability of law enforcement agencies and seeking care, support and justice for survivors of conflict related sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina and election monitoring in Kazakhstan. CSSF Ukraine is a key component of the UK’s commitment to Ukraine's security, encompassing security and defence training, support against disinformation efforts, and to civil society.

Fraud

Pat McFadden: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much (a) has been lost from the public purse as a result of fraud, scams and economic crime and (b) has been recovered to the public purse having been lost to fraud, scams and economic crime in each of the last five years.

Michael Ellis: The government publishes an Annual Fraud Landscape Report or Bulletin. The 2019/20 Fraud Landscape Bulletin states that our best estimate of the total fraud and error losses to the government is between £29bn and £52bn per year. This is an estimate built from the best available evidence on fraud and error loss. HMRC produces annual estimates of loss (Measuring Tax Gaps) based on statistical sampling. The closest fit to fraud and economic crime are the criminal attacks and evasion categories. HMRC also produces a loss estimate for tax credits - this is made up of fraud and error - not just fraud. Since 2017 (1), HMRC has reported ‘additional tax generated,’ which is made up of a wide range of compliance activities to recover due tax, not all related to fraud. With regards to serious tax fraud, the HMRC Fraud Investigation Service has recovered over £1bn of criminal assets using a combination of both civil and criminal recovery powers over the last 5 years. 15/1616/1717/1818/1919/20HMRC Criminal Attacks and Evasion + Tax Credit Estimated loss£11.3bn£11.6bn£10.8bn£11.2bn£11.6bnHMRC Additional Tax Generatedn/an/a£26.1bn£29.3bn£31.8bn DWP produces annual estimates of the fraud and error in the benefit system based on statistical sampling. The losses are apportioned between fraud and error. DWP also produces figures on recoveries of overpaid benefit each year, however, is it not possible to break this down to just fraud - it is made up of fraud, claimant error and official error. DWP’s reporting includes 2020/21 which shows a marked increase in loss level post-pandemic. 16/1717/1818/1919/2020/21DWP Estimated Value of Fraud and Error£3.6bn£3.8bn£3.9bn£4.6bn£8.4bnDWP Estimated Value of Fraud£2.0bn£2.2bn£2.1bn£2.8bn£6.3bnDWP Recovered Fraud and Error (Official and Claimant)£1.1bn£1.1bn£1.1bn£1.0bn£800m The ‘rest of government’ (e.g. not HMRC and DWP) report detected fraud and recoveries through centrally and this is published in the Government’s Annual Fraud Landscape Report or Bulletin. Information on fraud recoveries was not collected until 2016/17. The rest of government figures are below:  15/1616/1717/1818/1919/20 (2)Rest of Govt Detected Fraud£73.6m£119m£151m£99m£227mRest of Govt Recovered Fraudn/an/a£12m£22m£26m(1) The CCG (Customer Compliance Group) was created in 2017, hence the inability to report previous figures.(2) The 19/20 figures largely predate Covid-related fraud.

Department for International Trade

Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2022 to Question 100568 on Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, whether she expects to issue more standard individual exports licences as a result of recent changes to the arms export system.

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: The Department for International Trade has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2022 to Question 100568 on Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, what estimate she has made of the potential change in the monetary value of arms exports to (a) Saudi Arabia and (b) United Arab Emirates as a result of recent changes to the arms export system.

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: The Department for International Trade has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2022 to Question 100568 on Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates and with reference to the Written Statement of 8 December 2021, HCWS449 on Trade Policy Update, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of those changes on numbers of standard individual export licences to (a) Saudi Arabia and (b) United Arab Emirates.

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: The Department for International Trade has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Arms Trade: Kazakhstan

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many export licences for military goods for export to Kazakhstan her Department has granted; and if she will provide details of the items approved for export.

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: The Department for International Trade has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

World Expo: Dubai

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January to Question 110332, to list the 20 UK travel and transport companies referenced as having taken part in the Department’s programme at the Expo 2020 Dubai.

Mike Freer: The Travel and Transport companies who were involved in the Thought Leadership activity on the UK Pavilion were: Royce, Vertical Aerospace ltd, BP, Atkins Acuity, Riversimple, Ryze Hydrogen, Wrightbus, Ev.energy, Arity, Thales, CoMoUK, Artemis Technologies, ZigZag, Thompson Aero, Space Hub Sutherland, Aston Martin, Wood group PLC, Shell, LEVC, JLR.

World Expo: Dubai

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2022 to Question 110333, what the total cost to her Department was of staffing the UK Government’s pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.

Mike Freer: Expo 2020 Dubai runs from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022. Between 1 October and December 31, the latest reporting period available, spend on contracted staffing services at the UK Pavilion of £103,754 was reported. This excludes salaries of DIT staff. Spend on DIT staff working at the event and staff located in the UK providing critical support was reported to be £669,474.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Emergency Calls

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department has taken to help ensure that in the event of power outages people will still be able to make emergency calls, following the proposed changes to the Public Switched Telephone Network in 2025.

Julia Lopez: The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is a privately-owned telecoms network and the decision to upgrade it has been taken by the telecoms industry, not the government. However, the government and Ofcom are working together to ensure consumers and sectors are protected and prepared for the upgrade process.Ofcom, the independent telecoms regulator, has issued guidance on how telecoms companies can fulfil their regulatory obligation to ensure that their Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) customers have access to the emergency services during a power outage. This guidance was prepared following consultation with Ofgem and the industry, looking at data on average power outages among other factors.This guidance states that providers should have at least one solution available that enables access to emergency organisations for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power outage in the premises, and that the solution should be suitable for customers’ needs and should be offered free of charge to those who are at risk as they are dependent on their landline. Ofcom’s full guidance is available on its website here.

Telephone Systems

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether it is her Department's policy to ensure that the proposed changes to the Public Switched Telephone Network in 2025 are accompanied by improved broadband access and speeds, especially in more rural areas.

Julia Lopez: The Public Switched Telephone Network is a privately-owned telecoms network and the decision to upgrade it has been taken by the telecoms industry, not the government. The decision has been taken as the network is increasingly unreliable and prone to failure, and spare parts are becoming harder to source due to a reduction in global production.However, some Internet Service Providers are planning on migrating customers from PSTN connections only when a full-fibre connection is available at their premises, meaning higher broadband speeds and greater reliability.More broadly, the government is committed to delivering nationwide gigabit connectivity as soon as possible. Today, over 65% of premises can access gigabit-capable networks, up from just one in ten in November 2019. The Government is also investing £5 billion as part of Project Gigabit to ensure the hardest-to-reach areas in the UK receive coverage: up to 2.5 million premises are within the scope of procurements we have already announced.

Telecommunications: Digital Technology

Dehenna Davison: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the digital telephone system will replicate the ability of the analogue system to provide stable emergency communications in the event of power outages.

Julia Lopez: Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) migration is industry-led. The Government and the independent telecoms regulator, Ofcom, are working together to ensure customers are protected.Ofcom places a regulatory obligation on communications providers to take all necessary measures to ensure uninterrupted access to emergency organisations for their customers. Ofcom has issued guidance explaining how providers can fulfil this regulatory obligation during power outages, stating that at least one solution must be available for a minimum of one hour that enables access to emergency organisations in the event of a power cut. Any solution must be made available free of charge to customers who providers determine are reliant on their landline to make emergency calls during a power cut.Alongside this, the emergency services have access to a number of resilient communications systems to coordinate emergency response activity via mobile networks. This includes the current Airwave system, and they will make use of the Emergency Services Network (ESN) once transition has completed.

Loneliness: Learning Disabilities

Kim Leadbeater: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s policy paper entitled Emerging Together: the Tackling Loneliness Network Action Plan, published in May 2021, for what reason disabled people and people with a learning disability are omitted; and what steps he is taking to tackle loneliness among people with a learning disability and help ensure they do not experience barriers to friendship and connection.

Nigel Huddleston: The Government remains committed to working across government departments and across society to tackle loneliness, including for disabled people and people with a learning disability.The Tackling Loneliness Network Action Plan set out actions that the government and members of the Tackling Loneliness Network committed to take as part of delivering a connected recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus areas of the report were guided by members of the Tackling Loneliness Network, which includes organisations that work to support disabled people and people with a learning disability.Many of the actions set out in the report aimed to support a wide range of groups at risk of loneliness, including disabled people and people with a learning disability. For example, the government set up a Tackling Loneliness Hub to enable organisations working to tackle loneliness to connect and share resources, including about the impact of loneliness on disabled people.The Government has also specifically supported organisations working with disabled people and people with a learning disability to help them overcome loneliness. For example, through the COVID-19 Loneliness Fund, we provided grants to Sense, the Royal National Institute of Blind People, and Alzheimer’s Society. We have also provided grants through the Loneliness Engagement Fund to help organisations to carry out communications and engagement activity about loneliness with some of the groups most impacted by loneliness during COVID-19. We included disabled people as one of our priority groups to support through the Fund, and have provided grants to Mencap, the Royal National Institute of Blind People, and the British Deaf Association.

Census

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that data from the 1921 census is accessible; and whether her Department has plans for platforms other than Findmypast to host 1921 census data.

Julia Lopez: The 1921 Census for England and Wales was released on 6 January 2022 by The National Archives and its commercial partner, Findmypast. The cost of creating digital images, transcribing records, and building the infrastructure to present records online was beyond the resources of The National Archives. In order to allow digital access and widen access beyond the physical location of the Census, The National Archives selected Findmypast as its digitisation partner after a fair and open tendering process.The Census is free to view in digital format at The National Archives in Kew and two regional hubs, Manchester Central Library and The National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. Findmypast also offers online access to the 1921 Census anywhere, including the viewing of images and transcriptions of records. There are currently no plans for platforms other than Findmypast to host the 1921 Census online. Searching for records on Findmypast is free, and viewing records and transcripts is on a subscription-free, pay-per-view basis. Findmypast has committed to bringing the 1921 Census to its library customers for use in their reading rooms before the end of 2022.

Emergency Services Network: Ceredigion

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether any of the planned Extended Area Services masts in Ceredigion will be made available for use by the Shared Rural Network.

Julia Lopez: As part of the government funded element of the Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme £185m in funding will be made available to the Home Office and the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to upgrade Extended Area Service (EAS) masts being built as part of the Emergency Services Network (ESN). This will help eliminate ‘total not-spots’ - the hard to reach areas where there is currently no coverage from any operator. The Home Office will make sites available, where possible, for the MNOs to deploy on them although we recognise that, in some cases, upgrades may not be possible due to technical, financial or other reasons.There are 12 EAS sites in Ceredigion and these are all being considered for commercial connectivity via the SRN. We are currently working with the Home Office and MNOs to facilitate sharing as quickly as possible and the majority of the procurements have now been completed. In addition I am pleased to update that the Home Office and DCMS are exploring the possibility of the site in Llanafan being part of a EAS/SRN pilot scheme which will test the processes we, the Home Office and the MNOs have put in place to allow sharing on these sites to begin.

Broadband: South West

Selaine Saxby: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help ensure that customers in (a) the South West and (b) North Devon constituency have access to every broadband fibre connection on the wholesale market; and what steps he is taking with industry representatives to help ensure that customers have a choice of provider across the South West.

Julia Lopez: The Government is committed to delivering nationwide gigabit connectivity as soon as possible. Today, over 57% of premises in the South West - and 32% of premises in North Devon specifically - have access to a gigabit-capable network. By 2025 the government is targeting a minimum of 85% gigabit-capable coverage.There is now a thriving market of over 80 providers rolling out gigabit-capable broadband all over the UK using a range of technologies, including full-fibre networks and fixed wireless solutions. This technology-neutral strategy means that not every premises in the South West - or specifically North Devon - will have coverage from every type of connection on the wholesale market when choosing a gigabit-capable service. In addition, State aid and Competition Law prevents the government from intervening directly in functioning markets such as telecoms. Whilst the government’s policy is to increase competition and investment in the telecoms market whilst lowering the barriers to entry, we cannot force providers to offer a service where it is not commercially-viable for them to do so.In areas where network deployment is not commercially-viable and is supported directly by the government as part of Project Gigabit, contracts include requirements for the successful supplier to offer wholesale access over the subsidised network for up to 15 years after the network is built, and the procurement process differentiates suppliers on the choice of retail offerings they are able to bring. Further, DCMS is supporting various industry initiatives that are developing the wholesale market for smaller alternative network providers. Again, whilst the government can ensure winning bidders for its contracts offer wholesale access, it is a commercial decision for individual service providers themselves as to whether they wish to use these networks.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published July 2021, what recent steps her Department has taken to (a) encourage and support workplace disability networks, (b) achieve and maintain the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation, (c) ensure responsive and timely support to meet workplace adjustment needs and (d) develop and embed flexible working.

Julia Lopez: My Department has a very active and engaged ‘Ability Network’ which champions the needs and abilities of people with disabilities in DCMS. The Network is sponsored by three Senior Civil Servant Champions at Deputy Director, Director and Director General level who help to promote awareness and remove barriers to inclusion. The Chairs benefit from a ‘business deal for networks’ which enables them to dedicate up to 10% of their time to network activity. Senior sponsors meet with the Permanent Secretary (who is the Civil Service Inclusion Champion for Disability) on a quarterly basis and the Network is represented in our Governance structures with a role on the People and Operations Committee which meets monthly. Visibility of the network is supported by our Internal Communications team with regular awareness raising activity including, most recently, a series of events and blog posts for Disability History month which took place in December.I am proud that DCMS has achieved the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation which we will maintain through continuous improvement of our guidance and toolkits for disabled colleagues and their managers; and by taking forward an evidence based disability action plan which reflects best practice. As part of our commitment to be the most inclusive government department by 2025 we are undertaking a full review of the workplace adjustments process to ensure that adjustments are provided promptly and meet the required need.DCMS has achieved the PAS 3000 British Standard for Smarter Working which is a key part of our inclusive culture. All staff have the right to request flexible working after 26 weeks’ of continuous service and we look forward to the outcome of the BEIS consultation to see if this can be reduced to a day 1 right. We also encourage staff to consider flexible working through our HR policies and we promote flexible working through internal communications and blogs. In addition, as part of our move to a hybrid working model, staff can request workplace adjustments, with one option to permanently work from home in certain limited circumstances.

Broadband

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Government's press release entitled Government unveils levelling up plan that will transform UK, whether the ambition to have nationwide gigabit-capable broadband and 4G coverage with 5G coverage for the majority of the population by 2030 replaces the Government's previous commitments that the majority of the country would have 5G coverage by 2027.

Julia Lopez: Our ambition remains for the majority of the population to have access to a 5G signal by 2027. Through the government’s work to develop the Wireless Infrastructure Strategy, we will set out a long term vision for the development, deployment and adoption of 5G and future networks. We also remain committed to bringing gigabit-capable broadband to at least 85 per cent of the UK by 2025 and 99% by 2030, alongside extending 4G mobile coverage to 95 per cent of the UK landmass through the Shared Rural Network programme, by 2025.The Levelling Up White Paper outlines our mission for 2030.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Marine Protected Areas

Virginia Crosbie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to manage fishing in Marine Protected Areas around the coast of the UK; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of banning supertrawlers and fly shooting vessels from fishing in Marine Protected Areas to allow fish stocks to recover and to support the UK fishing industry.

Rebecca Pow: Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a devolved competency and the information provided therefore relates to England only. The UK is at the forefront of marine protection with 372 MPAs protecting 38% of UK waters. We have built a comprehensive network of MPAs and are focusing on making sure they are protected properly. Ninety-eight of our inshore English MPAs now have management measures in place to protect sensitive features from bottom towed fishing gears. We are also developing an ambitious three-year programme for assessing sites and implementing byelaws, where necessary, to manage fishing activity in all English offshore MPAs.

Wildlife: Crime

Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the recommendations of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report entitled Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit Report: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, what steps he plans to take to ensure that there are sufficient resources for statutory agencies to improve their ability to investigate and prosecute offences related to wildlife crime.

Rebecca Pow: We welcome this report and the fact that it recognises the UK’s global leadership in fighting wildlife and forestry crime. We invited the UN to undertake this analysis and we are proud to be the first G7 country to request this assessment. There is always more we can do to tackle wildlife crime and we will carefully consider all of the UN’s recommendations – including those relating to the resourcing of statutory agencies – to help us build on the positive progress we have already made. While many of the resourcing recommendations fall outside of Defra’s remit, progress has already been made in response to this report, for example with Border Force increasing numbers in their team specialising in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Since 2016 Defra and the Home Office have jointly contributed approximately £300,000 annually to the National Wildlife Crime Unit, which monitors and gathers intelligence on wildlife crime and aids police forces in their investigations when required.

Export Health Certificates

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Animal Health Certificates (a) have been issued in each of the last five years and (b) his Department has estimated will need to be issued in each year between 2022 and 2026 inclusive; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Churchill: For the purposes of the EU Pet Travel Scheme, Great Britain and the Crown Dependencies are considered a Part 2 listed third country which requires an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) for pet travel to the EU and Northern Ireland (NI). AHCs are issued for a maximum of five pets. The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) does not issue the actual AHCs but provides Unique Certificate Numbers (UCNs) to Official Veterinarians (OVs), on request, which they then use to issue individual AHCs to their clients. APHA has issued 38 batches of UCNs (with 50 UCNs in each batch) to OVs since 1 January 2022 to date, allowing for approximately 1,900 AHCs to be issued by vets. Prior to 1 January 2022, AHCs were not required to enter the EU and NI with UK pet passports being issued instead, so the number of AHCs issued for previous years is zero. APHA is unable to estimate the number of AHCs which will need to be issued in each year between 2022 to 2026 inclusive. APHA has been issuing UCNs since 1 January 2022 so does not have previous year trends to estimate figures, and with the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic it is difficult to predict future numbers.

Export Health Certificates

Sir Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on discussions with the British Veterinary Association to address concerns on veterinary capacity to complete and issue Animal Health Certificates.

Jo Churchill: The Animal Health Certificate (AHC) format is mandated by the EU, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has taken steps to help Official Veterinarians (OVs) complete them including by developing a model AHC together with accompanying printable guidance and associated training. APHA has publicised the availability of the training relating to completing AHCs. The model AHC is easily available online and can be accessed by all qualified OVs at any time.We are continuing to engage with the British Veterinary Association (BVA) to develop additional guidance to support vets in completing and issuing AHCs. This includes the development of a 'checklist', which can be used in addition to the comprehensive guidance already available to vets, and an explainer video that will guide vets through a worked-up AHC example.Defra is taking steps, working with the BVA and other stakeholders, to increase veterinary capacity across all sectors. We have secured the place of veterinary surgeons on the Home Office Shortage Occupation List, making it easier for UK employers to recruit vets from overseas. In addition, we are looking at ways to further enable the use of allied professionals where appropriate to help reduce the workload of the vet professional, including giving careful consideration to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ proposals for reform of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966.The number of OVs (working in private practice) who are able to issue AHCs is currently 7,896. Defra does not hold information on the related number of veterinary practices that are able to issue AHCs.

Export Health Certificates

Sir Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Government has made in its discussions with the EU on changing the status of the UK to a Part 1 country so that Animal Health Certificate’s would no longer be required.

Jo Churchill: The UK has been formally ‘listed’ as a ‘Part 2’ third country for the purposes of the EU pet travel scheme, which means that new rules apply to pet movements from Great Britain to the EU and to Northern Ireland. The pet health and documentary requirements for such pet travel are set out under the EU Pet Travel Regulations. Defra recognises the impact that these changes are having on pet owners and assistance dog users. We are continuing to seek agreement from the European Commission on awarding GB ‘Part 1’ listed status and recognition of the UK’s tapeworm-free status, and we see no valid animal health reason for these not to be granted. Achieving these would alleviate a number of pet travel rules for all travellers, including the need for an Animal Health Certificate. We have one of the most rigorous pet checking regimes in Europe to protect our biosecurity and we are engaging with the EU to progress this issue.

Birds of Prey: Conservation

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report entitled Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit Report: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, what steps he plans to take to strengthen accountability of estate management in relation to persecution of raptors, in particular (a) hen harrier, (b) golden eagle, (c) peregrine falcon, (d) white-tailed eagle and (e) goshawk.

Rebecca Pow: We welcome this report and the fact that it recognises the UK’s global leadership in fighting wildlife and forestry crime. We invited the UN to undertake this analysis and we are proud to be the first G7 country to request this assessment. There is always more we can do to tackle wildlife crime and we will carefully consider all of the UN’s recommendations – including those relating to raptor persecution - to help us build on the positive progress we have already made. Defra sits on the police-led Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group, which takes forward activities to raise awareness and facilitate intelligence and incident reporting, leading to increased prevention and enforcement activity. The group focuses on ‘hotspot’ areas of the country rather than specific species although it is recognised the five listed from a-e in this question are identified as being of particular concern where raptor persecution is concerned. This Government takes wildlife crime seriously. Significant sanctions are available to judges to hand down to those convicted of wildlife crimes.  Most wildlife crimes carry up to an unlimited fine and/or a six-month custodial sentence.

Birds: Conservation

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recommendations of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report, Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit Report: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, relating to (a) raptor persecution and (b) licensing for gamebird shoots.

Rebecca Pow: We welcome this report and the fact that it recognises the UK’s global leadership in fighting wildlife and forestry crime. We invited the UN to undertake this analysis and we are proud to be the first G7 country to request this assessment. There is always more we can do to tackle wildlife crime and we will carefully consider all of the UN’s recommendations – including those relating to raptor persecution - to help us build on the positive progress we have already made. Defra sits on the police-led Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group, which takes forward activities to raise awareness and facilitate intelligence and incident reporting, leading to increased prevention and enforcement activity. This Government takes wildlife crime seriously. Significant sanctions are available to judges to hand down to those convicted of wildlife crimes.  Most wildlife crimes carry up to an unlimited fine and/or a six-month custodial sentence. The UNODC report suggests the approach to licensing for gamebird shooting should be more aligned across the UK. Noting this is a devolved matter there is currently no requirement for gamebird shoots to be licensed in England. In 2021 Defra did issue a General Licence (GL43) under Section 16(4) and (5) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for release of non-native gamebirds (common pheasants and red-legged partridges), on or near European sites. Defra has the power to modify or revoke this licence. Any person who has been convicted of a wildlife offence since 2010 will not be able to act under this licence or under any of Defra’s three Wild Bird General Licences (GL40-GL42). As noted above, all the recommendations in the UNODC report will be carefully considered.

UK Trade with EU: Food

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to reduce the complexity of documentation pertaining to exporting food with the European Union for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Victoria Prentis: The Government is committed to improving export processes for traders, for example through greater digitisation, to help reduce burdens. Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) controls for exports of plants, seeds and products of animal origin to the EU are set by the EU. Under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement we hold regular discussions with the EU. This allows us to take a risk-based approach to our respective SPS border controls and provides a basis for cooperation on avoiding unnecessary barriers to trade. In addition, we seek to facilitate trade to the EU for GB exporters by regularly raising technical issues with certain Member States.

Food

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to increase the intake of fibre in people's diet.

Victoria Prentis: In the United Kingdom, the national food model, the Eatwell Guide, provides a visual representation of Government’s evidence-based recommendations for a healthy balanced diet. The guide depicts a healthy, balanced diet based on fruit and vegetables and higher fibre starchy carbohydrates.